How popular is the baby name Michael in the United States right now? How popular was it historically? Find out using the graph below! Plus, check out all the blog posts that mention the name Michael.

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Popularity of the Baby Name Michael


Posts that Mention the Name Michael

Popular baby names in Austin (Texas), 2008-2016

Austin, Texas

A couple of months ago, we looked at Austin’s top baby names of 2017. When I found the data for that post, I also found nine other top-10 lists for Austin (2008-2016). Because they’re out of date, I’ll go ahead and consolidate these earlier rankings into a single blog post (like I did for New York City a while back).

2016

The most popular baby names in Austin in 2016.

Top Girl Names (Austin, 2016)Top Boy Names (Austin, 2016)
1. Olivia
2. Mia
3. Isabella
4. Sophia
5. Elizabeth
6. Ava
7. Emma
8. Charlotte
9. Sofia
10. Camila & Emily (tie)		1. William
2. Alexander
3. Ethan
4. Noah
5. Oliver
6. Benjamin
7. Liam
8. Jacob
9. James
10. Mathew

(“Mathew” could be a typo…?)

2015

The most popular baby names in Austin in 2015.

Top Girl Names (Austin, 2015)Top Boy Names (Austin, 2015)
1. Olivia
2. Sophia
3. Emma
4. Sofia
5. Ava
6. Evelyn
7. Emily
8. Abigail
9. Isabella
10. Mia		1. Liam
2. Noah
3. William
4. James
5. Alexander
6. Jacob
7. Luke
8. David
9. Dylan
10. Henry

2014

The most popular baby names in Austin in 2014.

Top Girl Names (Austin, 2014)Top Boy Names (Austin, 2014)
1. Olivia
2. Emma
3. Isabella
4. Sofia
5. Mia
6. Sophia
7. Ava
8. Charlotte
9. Emily
10. Abigail		1. Noah
2. William
3. Michael
4. Alexander
5. Benjamin
6. James
7. Anthony
8. Jacob
9. Liam
10. Daniel & Ethan (tie)

2013

The most popular baby names in Austin in 2013.

Top Girl Names (Austin, 2013)Top Boy Names (Austin, 2013)
1. Olivia
2. Sophia
3. Emily
4. Isabella
5. Emma
6. Mia
7. Abigail
8. Avery
9. Ava
10. Sofia		1. Alexander
2. William
3. Noah
4. Jacob
5. Benjamin
6. Ethan
7. David
8. Liam
9. Andrew
10. Christopher, James, John & Luke (4-way tie)

2012

The most popular baby names in Austin in 2012.

Top Girl Names (Austin, 2012)Top Boy Names (Austin, 2012)
1. Sophia
2. Isabella
3. Emma
4. Olivia
5. Ava
6. Abigail
7. Mia
8. Emily
9. Sofia
10. Harper		1. William
2. Alexander
3. Ethan
4. Noah
5. Christopher
6. Jacob
7. David
8. James
9. Benjamin
10. Matthew

2011

The most popular baby names in Austin in 2011.

Top Girl Names (Austin, 2011)Top Boy Names (Austin, 2011)
1. Sophia
2. Isabella
3. Olivia
4. Emma
5. Abigail
6. Ava
7. Emily
8. Addison
9. Elizabeth
10. Sofia		1. Jacob
2. William
3. Alexander
4. Daniel
5. Noah
6. David
7. Mason
8. John
9. Benjamin
10. Ethan

2010

The most popular baby names in Austin in 2010.

Top Girl Names (Austin, 2010)Top Boy Names (Austin, 2010)
1. Sophia
2. Isabella
3. Ava
4. Abigail
5. Emma
6. Olivia
7. Emily
8. Avery
9. Chloe
10. Elizabeth		1. William
2. Jacob
3. Alexander
4. Noah
5. Christopher
6. Daniel
7. John
8. Andrew
9. Michael
10. Angel

2009

The most popular baby names in Austin in 2009.

Top Girl Names (Austin, 2009)Top Boy Names (Austin, 2009)
1. Isabella
2. Mia
3. Sophia
4. Emily
5. Ava
6. Emma
7. Olivia
8. Elizabeth
9. Natalie
10. Ashley		1. William
2. Jose
3. Daniel
4. Alexander
5. Christopher
6. Andrew
7. Jacob
8. Angel
9. Michael
10. Joshua

2008

The most popular baby names in Austin in 2008.

Top Girl Names (Austin, 2008)Top Boy Names (Austin, 2008)
1. Isabella
2. Sophia
3. Emily
4. Abigail
5. Emma
6. Ava
7. Olivia
8. Ashley
9. Elizabeth
10. Madison & Natalie (tie)		1. Alexander
2. Daniel
3. David
4. Angel
5. Jacob
6. Michael
7. John
8. Joshua
9. William
10. Christopher & Noah (tie)

Did any of these names (or rankings) stand out to you?

Source: Most Popular Baby Names 2008-2017 City Of Austin | Open Data | City of Austin Texas
Image by MJ Tangonan on Unsplash

What popularized the baby name Chael in the early 2010s?

MMA fighter Chael Sonnen
Chael Sonnen

The interesting name Chael, after first appearing in the U.S. baby name data in the early 2000s, rose to peak usage in 2013:

  • 2015: 35 baby boys named Chael
  • 2014: 60 baby boys named Chael
  • 2013: 96 baby boys named Chael [peak]
  • 2012: 61 baby boys named Chael
  • 2011: 34 baby boys named Chael

What was the influence?

Mixed martial artist Chael Sonnen (pronounced CHAYL SUN-en; first name similar to “jail”), whose career lasted from the late 1990s to the late 2010s.

He was most famous during the early 2010s, when he was a top contender in two different UFC weight classes. Also during that time period, he cemented his reputation as one of MMA’s best trash-talkers.

Sonnen’s initial fight with Anderson Silva* for the UFC Middleweight Championship in August of 2010 was voted Fight of the Year at the annual World MMA awards. Ahead of their highly anticipated re-match in July of 2012, a Bleacher Report writer said:

Chael Sonnen is a name that seems to be on the tip of every MMA fans’ tongues these days. Whether you’re online or watching UFC televised programming, Sonnen’s name and face are everywhere.

(Later the same year, a poster at the MMA Underground forum asked, rather presciently: “Will Chael be the hot new boys name for 2013?“)

In April of 2013, Sonnen lost his third and final title bout, this time against Jon Jones in the Light Heavyweight division. But he did win MMA Personality of the Year in 2013 — ousting the usual recipient, Joe Rogan.

So how did Sonnen, who was born in Oregon in 1977, get the first name Chael? Here’s what he said during a Reddit AMA a few years ago:

My Mom took the name “Michael” and removed the “Mi”.

She also altered the pronunciation, of course.

What are your thoughts on the name Chael?

Sources:

*Anderson Silva and Wanderlei Silva are both from Brazil, but they’re not related.

Popular baby names in Australia, 2021

kangaroo

Australia might be the sixth-largest country in terms of area, but it isn’t very large in terms of population. In fact, it’s one of the least densely populated places in the world.

Last year, Australia welcomed just 309,996 babies — 151,079 baby girls and 158,917 baby boys. By comparison, the U.S. state of Texas recorded 373,340 births the same year.

What were the most popular names among Australia’s 2021 babies?

Well…we don’t know for sure. Because Australia doesn’t release baby name rankings that cover the entire country.

map of Australia

So here’s the next-best thing: Eight sets of regional Australian rankings — representing Australia’s six states and two most populous territories — all gathered into a single post, followed by a guess about the country’s top five names per gender.

Here are the rankings, ordered by total number of births per region (highest to lowest):

New South Wales

Last year, New South Wales welcomed 99,300 babies. Here are NSW’s top baby names of 2021:

Girl Names, NSWBoy Names, NSW
1. Olivia, 493 baby girls
2. Amelia, 489
3. Charlotte, 486
4. Isla, 439
5. Ava, 414
6. Mia, 375
7. Grace, 367
8. Chloe, 335
9. Matilda, 326
10. Ella, 322		1. Oliver, 695 baby boys
2. Noah, 633
3. Jack, 459
4. William, 458
5. Henry, 444
6. Leo, 424
7. Lucas, 410
8. Theodore, 378
9. Levi, 339
10. Liam, 336

In 2020, the top names in NSW were Amelia and Oliver.

Victoria

Last year, Victoria welcomed 76,414 babies. Here are Victoria’s top baby names of 2021:

Girl Names, Vic.Boy Names, Vic.
1. Charlotte, 410 baby girls
2. Olivia, 407
3. Isla, 388
4. Amelia, 363
5. Mia, 353
6. Ava, 331
7. Grace, 312
8. Matilda, 284
9. Zoe, 274
10. Willow, 270		1. Oliver, 551 baby boys
2. Noah, 522
3. Jack, 417
4. Charlie, 360 (tie)
5. Leo, 360 (tie)
6. Henry, 356 (tie)
7. William, 356 (tie)
8. Levi, 312
9. Thomas, 310
10. Archie, 302

In 2020, the top names in Victoria were also Charlotte and Oliver.

Queensland

Last year, Queensland welcomed 64,261 babies. Here are Queensland’s top baby names of 2021:

Girl Names, Qld.Boy Names, Qld.
1. Isla, 347 baby girls
2. Olivia, 320
3. Charlotte, 307
4. Willow, 288
5. Mia, 286
6. Ava, 285
7. Grace, 279
8. Amelia, 276
9. Matilda, 224
10. Lily, 215		1. Oliver, 506 baby boys
2. Noah, 419
3. Henry, 363
4. William, 347
5. Theodore, 331
6. Hudson, 302
7. Jack, 296
8. Charlie, 293
9. Elijah, 277
10. Leo, 274

In 2020, the top names in Queensland were Charlotte and Oliver.

Western Australia

Last year, Western Australia welcomed 34,065 babies. Here are WA’s top baby names of 2021:

Girl Names, WABoy Names, WA
1. Isla, 191 baby girls
2. Ava, 150
3. Amelia, 149
4. Charlotte, 143
5. Olivia, 141
6. Harper, 137
7. Grace, 135
8. Mia, 122 (tie)
9. Willow, 122 (tie)
10. Ella, 117		1. Oliver, 248 baby boys
2. Noah, 214
3. Jack, 188
4. William, 167
5. Leo, 165
6. Elijah, 149
7. Thomas, 144
8. Hudson, 143
9. Charlie, 141
10. Lucas, 140

In 2020, the top names in WA were also Isla and Oliver.

South Australia

Last year, South Australia welcomed 19,783 babies. Here are SA’s top baby names of 2021:

Girl Names, SABoy Names, SA
1. Isla, 120 baby girls
2. Charlotte, 110
3. Olivia, 101
4. Harper, 95
5. Ava, 91
6. Amelia, 88 (tie)
7. Ivy, 88 (tie)
8. Grace, 87
9. Lily, 80
10. Willow, 78		1. Oliver, 195 baby boys
2. Noah, 132
3. Henry, 126
4. Charlie, 119
5. Leo, 98
6. Jack, 90
7. William, 85
8. Thomas, 81
9. Hudson, 78
10. Harry/James/Levi/Lucas, 74 each (4-way tie)

In 2020, the top names in SA were Charlotte and Oliver.

Australian Capital Territory

Last year, ACT (Canberra) welcomed 6,410 babies. Here are ACT’s top baby names of 2021:

Girl Names, ACTBoy Names, ACT
1. Charlotte
2. Matilda
3. Grace
4. Ivy (tie)
5. Olivia (tie)
6. Amelia
7. Hazel (2-way tie)
8. Sophia (2-way tie)
9. Ella (2-way tie)
10. Mia (2-way tie)		1. Henry (tie)
2. Oliver (tie)
3. William
4. Theodore
5. Thomas
6. Leo
7. Noah
8. Jack
9. Archer
10. Charlie

In 2020, the top names in ACT were Charlotte and William.

Tasmania

Last year, Tasmania welcomed 6,027 babies. Here are Tasmania’s top baby names of 2021:

Girl Names, Tas.Boy Names, Tas.
1. Charlotte
2. Isla
3. Willow
4. Ruby
5. Ava
6. Matilda
7. Grace
8. Hazel
9. Lucy
10. Lily		1. Oliver
2. Noah
3. Archie
4. Jack
5. Henry
6. William
7. Leo
8. Charlie
9. Hudson
10. Thomas

In 2020, the top names in Tasmania were Willow and Charlie.

Northern Territory

Last year, Northern Territory welcomed 3,736 babies. Here are NT’s top baby names of 2021:

Girl Names, NTBoy Names, NT
1. Isla, 15 baby girls
2. Ivy, 14
3. Amelia, 12 (3-way tie)
4. Ava, 12 (3-way tie)
5. Charlotte, 12 (3-way tie)
6. Hazel, 11 (3-way tie)
7. Matilda, 11 (3-way tie)
8. Mia, 11 (3-way tie)
9. Florence/Harper/Lily/Luna/Olivia, 9 each (5-way tie)		1. Charlie, 16 baby boys
2. Jack, 15
3. James, 14 (tie)
4. Noah, 14 (tie)
5. Elijah, 13 (tie)
6. Luca, 13 (tie)
7. Lucas, 12 (3-way tie)
8. Oliver, 12 (3-way tie)
9. Thomas, 12 (3-way tie)
10. Michael, 11

In 2020, the top names in NT were Charlotte and William.

Australia

Finally, using the data from the five most populous regions — which, together, welcomed nearly 95% of the country’s 2021 babies — we can make a guess about Australia’s top baby names overall:

Possible Top Girl NamesPossible Top Boy Names
1. Isla
2. Olivia
3. Charlotte
4. Amelia
5. Ava		1. Oliver
2. Noah
3. Jack
4. William
5. Leo

I’m confident that Oliver was the #1 boy name in Australia last year, but less confident about Isla being the #1 girl name (because Olivia and Charlotte were so close behind).

What are your thoughts on Australia’s top baby names of 2021?

Sources:

Image by Ashish Upadhyay on Unsplash. Map adapted from Australia location map by NordNordWest under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Popular baby names in Austin (Texas), 2017

Austin, Texas

A few days ago, I stumbled upon a set of baby name data for Austin, Texas, for the year 2017. While it isn’t current, it does seem to be complete — so it includes hundreds of rare and single-use names (which are always fascinating!).

The data accounts for nearly 19,900 births (9,733 girls and 10,163 boys), and features nearly 6,100 names (3,431 given to girls, 2,656 given to boys).

According to this data, which comes from the City of Austin’s Open Data Portal, the top baby names in the capital of Texas five years ago were Emma and James.

Here are Austin’s top 50 girl names and top 50 boy names of 2017:

Girl Names

  1. Emma, 98 baby girls
  2. Isabella, 88
  3. Olivia, 84
  4. Mia, 81
  5. Evelyn, 77
  6. Sophia, 75
  7. Ava, 73
  8. Abigail, 59 (tie)
  9. Charlotte, 59 (tie)
  10. Emily, 58
  11. Camila, 56 (tie)
  12. Elizabeth, 56 (tie)
  13. Harper, 53
  14. Amelia, 52
  15. Penelope, 51 (tie)
  16. Sofia, 51 (tie)
  17. Scarlett, 46
  18. Ella, 45
  19. Avery, 43 (tie)
  20. Zoe, 43 (tie)
  21. Lillian, 41
  22. Layla, 40 (tie)
  23. Madison, 40 (tie)
  24. Eleanor, 39
  25. Victoria, 38
  26. Allison, 37
  27. Claire, 36 (3-way tie)
  28. Elena, 36 (3-way tie)
  29. Luna, 36 (3-way tie)
  30. Aria, 35 (tie)
  31. Chloe, 35 (tie)
  32. Ellie, 34 (tie)
  33. Katherine, 34 (tie)
  34. Samantha, 33
  35. Hannah, 30 (4-way tie)
  36. Hazel, 30 (4-way tie)
  37. Mila, 30 (4-way tie)
  38. Stella, 30 (4-way tie)
  39. Leah, 29
  40. Cora, 28 (5-way tie)
  41. Genesis, 28 (5-way tie)
  42. Grace, 28 (5-way tie)
  43. Natalie, 28 (5-way tie)
  44. Ximena, 28 (5-way tie)
  45. Clara, 27 (3-way tie)
  46. Eliana, 27 (3-way tie)
  47. Ruby, 27 (3-way tie)
  48. Audrey, 26 (tie)
  49. Sarah, 26 (tie)
  50. Alexa, 25 (3-way tie)
  51. Everly, 25 (3-way tie)
  52. Lily, 25 (3-way tie)

Boy Names

  1. James, 104 baby boys
  2. Noah, 85
  3. Daniel, 83
  4. Benjamin, 82
  5. William, 80
  6. Oliver, 75
  7. Liam, 74
  8. Alexander, 73
  9. Sebastian, 70
  10. Henry, 67
  11. Elijah, 66 (tie)
  12. Mateo, 66 (tie)
  13. Ethan, 65
  14. Jackson, 63
  15. Anthony, 61
  16. Jacob, 60
  17. Aiden, 59 (tie)
  18. Luke, 59 (tie)
  19. David, 58 (tie)
  20. Samuel, 58 (tie)
  21. John, 56
  22. Isaac, 55 (tie)
  23. Julian, 55 (tie)
  24. Michael, 54
  25. Charles, 53 (3-way tie)
  26. Jack, 53 (3-way tie)
  27. Matthew, 53 (3-way tie)
  28. Jose, 52 (tie)
  29. Joshua, 52 (tie)
  30. Wyatt, 50
  31. Aaron, 49 (4-way tie)
  32. Grayson, 49 (4-way tie)
  33. Joseph, 49 (4-way tie)
  34. Levi, 49 (4-way tie)
  35. Dylan, 48
  36. Hudson, 47
  37. Josiah, 46 (3-way tie)
  38. Logan, 46 (3-way tie)
  39. Santiago, 46 (3-way tie)
  40. Jayden, 45
  41. Nathan, 44
  42. Christopher, 43 (tie)
  43. Thomas, 43 (tie)
  44. Andrew, 42 (4-way tie)
  45. Gabriel, 42 (4-way tie)
  46. Luis, 42 (4-way tie)
  47. Owen, 42 (4-way tie)
  48. Lucas, 41
  49. Adrian, 40 (3-way tie)
  50. Axel, 40 (3-way tie)
  51. Christian, 40 (3-way tie)

On the girls’ list, Allison caught my eye. It ranked 26th in Austin in 2017, but 61st nationally the same year. Interesting.

Further down on the boys’ list was Austin itself, in 95th place — vs. 75th nationally — with 21 baby boys. Much further down was Texas, with 2 baby boys.

And now it’s time for the unique names!

One-of-a-kind names were given to 24% of the baby girls and 17% of the baby boys born in Austin in 2017. Here’s a sampling of the names that were bestowed just once:

Unique Girl NamesUnique Boy Names
Aubrion, Autry, Blue Jay, Cadeau, Ceiba, Dulceluna, Eeriemoon, Fiza, Gilana, Holleen, Itzigueri, Jill, Kasleen, Lillabee, L’Oreal, Mauzie, Millioni, Nincye, Nobelina, Orchid, Princess Plethora, Qiwei, Roshnee, Scepter, Shanze, Thais, Tsumugi, Umutoni, Vyga, Wengiel, Xyzla, Ynafets, ZieglindAshton Alchimist, Bruges, Cayenne, Dalbus, Eames, Fenghua, Ganesh, Getsai, Hackett, Itzae, Jizael, Kavelli Kaine, Linnaeus, Linux, Mazoree, Mistral, Naranna, Nimbus, Olince, Penn, Qhing, Rigveda, Shooter, Syphax, Tavoric, Templar, Urfan, Vetri, Wajahat, Xavi, Yoonbin, Zaxton

Some possible explanations/associations for a few of the above:

  • Cadeau is the French word for “present, gift.”
  • Ceiba is a type of tree.
  • Tsumugi Shirogane is a character from the 2017 video game Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony.
  • Ynafets is “Stefany” spelled backwards.
  • Bruges is the capital of West Flanders (a province of Belgium).
  • Mistral is a strong late-winter wind in southern France.
  • The Rigveda is a sacred Hindu text.

I’ve never posted rankings for Austin before, but I have posted rankings recently for two nearby Texas cities: Houston (which is more than twice the size of Austin, population-wise) and College Station (which is about an eighth of the size of Austin).

Sources: From Aadhav to Zyva: 6,087 Names of Babies Born in Austin in 2017 | Open Data | City of Austin Texas, Wiktionary
Image by MJ Tangonan on Unsplash