How popular is the baby name Michael in the United States right now? How popular was it historically? Use the popularity graph and data table below to find out! Plus, see 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 Ireland, 2019

Flag of Ireland
Flag of Ireland

According to data from Ireland’s Central Statistics Office (CSO), the most popular baby names in the country in 2019 were — yet again! — Emily and Jack.

Here are Ireland’s top 10 girl names and top 10 boy names of 2019:

Girl Names

  1. Emily, 452 baby girls
  2. Grace, 426
  3. Fiadh, 334
  4. Sophie, 330
  5. Hannah, 321
  6. Amelia, 315
  7. Ava, 313 (tie)
  8. Ellie, 313 (tie)
  9. Ella, 292
  10. Mia, 289

Boy Names

  1. Jack, 677 baby boys
  2. James, 534
  3. Noah, 502
  4. Conor, 427
  5. Daniel, 399
  6. Adam, 345
  7. Liam, 334
  8. Tadhg, 318
  9. Luke, 317
  10. Charlie, 316

Jack has been the top boy name since 2007 (with the exception of 2016) and Emily has been the top girl name since 2011.

In the girls’ top 10, Hannah returned and Emma dropped out.

In the boys’ top 10, Liam and Tadhg (pronounced tyeg, like the first syllable of “tiger”) replaced Harry and Michael.

The fastest-rising names in the top 100 in terms of numbers of babies were:

  • Éabha (+57 baby girls), Caoimhe (+36), Molly (+32), Erin (+31), Sadhbh (+31)
  • Rían (+69 baby boys), Bobby (+50), Senan (+46), Darragh (+38), Tadhg (+38), Theo (+38)

And the fastest-rising in terms of rank were:

  • Alexandra (+25 spots), Heidi (+20), Hollie (+20), Bonnie (+19), Éabha (+19)
  • Odhrán (+41 spots), Odhran (+39), Eli (+37), Kayden (+30), Ruairí (+27)

Source: Irish Babies’ Names 2019 – CSO

Image: Adapted from Flag of Ireland (public domain)

Where did the baby name Turiya come from in 1974?

The collaborative album "Illuminations" (1974) by Turiya Alice Coltrane and Devadip Carlos Santana.
Turiya Alice Coltrane album

The rare name Turiya has appeared in the SSA’s baby name data just twice so far, in 1974 and 1975:

  • 1976: unlisted
  • 1975: 7 baby girls named Turiya
  • 1974: 6 baby girls named Turiya [debut]
  • 1973: unlisted
  • 1972: unlisted

Where did it come from?

Signs point to Alice Coltrane, who wasn’t just the widow of famous jazz saxophonist John Coltrane, but also an accomplished jazz musician in her own right. She played piano and organ professionally starting in the early 1960s, and later learned to play the harp as well.

Following the death of her husband in 1967, Alice did two things: she “devoted herself to Vedic practice,” and she began recording albums as a bandleader (instead of as a sideman).

In the ten years that followed, she released about a dozen albums on Impulse! and Warner Bros., many of them masterpieces that imagine a meeting point between jazz and psychedelic rock, gospel traditions and Indian devotional music.

So how does “Turiya” fit into all this?

At some point in the early ’70s, Alice adopted the name Turiyasangitananda, which she translated as “the Transcendental Lord’s highest song of bliss.” The Sanskrit components of the name are: turiya, meaning “the fourth (state of the soul),” sangita, meaning “music,” and ananda, meaning “bliss.”

The shortened version, Turiya, soon started appearing in song titles: “Turiya & Ramakrishna” (1970) and “Galaxy In Turiya” (1972).

But its most prominent appearance came in 1974 with the album Illuminations, which was co-created by “Turiya Alice Coltrane” and “Devadip Carlos Santana.” (In Sanskrit, deva means “god,” dip means “lamp” or “light.” Like Narada Michael Walden, Carlos Santana was a follower of Sri Chinmoy.)

Though Alice Coltrane Turiyasangitananda eventually left her professional music career to head a spiritual community — not to mention raise four children (Michelle, John Jr., Ravi and Oranyan) as a single mother — she never stopped making music.

What are your thoughts on the baby name Turiya?

Sources: Alice Coltrane – Wikipedia, Alice Coltrane’s Devotional Music, Alice Coltrane – Discogs

Where did the baby name Narada come from?

Narada Michael Walden's album "Awakening" (1979)
Narada Michael Walden album

The Hindu name Narada first appeared in the U.S. baby name data in the late ’70s:

  • 1983: 19 baby boys named Narada
  • 1982: 18 baby boys named Narada
  • 1981: 29 baby boys named Narada
  • 1980: 48 baby boys and 7 baby girls named Narada
  • 1979: 19 baby boys named Narada [debut]
  • 1978: unlisted
  • 1977: unlisted

Where did it come from?

Musician and producer Narada (pronounced NAH-ruh-duh) Michael Walden.

His most successful songs, “I Don’t Want Nobody Else (To Dance with You)” and “I Shoulda Loved Ya,” were both released in 1979. Both reached the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at 47th and 66th respectively. Both also reached the top 10 on Billboard‘s Hot Soul Singles chart, peaking at 9th and 4th.

He went on to have a successful career, being nominated for a total of eight Grammys and winning three (two in the ’80s, one in the ’90s). He produced music for people like Aretha Franklin, Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey, Lionel Richie, Ray Charles, Al Jarreau, Gladys Knight, Shanice Wilson, Tevin Campbell, etc.

He was born Michael Walden in Michigan in 1952. In the early ’70s, he became a devotee of Indian guru Sri Chinmoy. Chinmoy gave him the spiritual name Narada, and Walden chose to use Narada as part of his stage name. (Carlos Santana, another follower, went by “Devadip Carlos Santana” for a time.)

In Hindu tradition, the character Narada is a sage and musician. He is portrayed “as both wise and mischievous, creating some of Vedic literature’s more humorous tales.”

Do you like Narada as a baby name? Would you use it?

Sources: Narada Michael Walden – Wikipedia, Narada Michael Walden – Billboard, Arunachal butterfly named after Narada, SSA

Popular boy names in the United States, 2019

Flag of the United States
Flag of the United States

Yesterday we looked at some of the latest girl name data, so today let’s check in on the 2019 boy names…

Here are the most popular boy names overall:

  1. Liam, 20,502 baby boys
  2. Noah, 19,048
  3. Oliver, 13,891
  4. William, 13,542
  5. Elijah, 13,300
  6. James, 13,087
  7. Benjamin, 12,942
  8. Lucas, 12,412
  9. Mason, 11,408
  10. Ethan, 11,241

Ethan kicked Logan out of the top 10 last year. (Logan is now ranked 16th.)

The boy names that saw the largest increases in usage in terms of absolute numbers of babies were…

  1. Brooks, increased by 1,114 babies
  2. Miles, 860
  3. Legend, 832
  4. Luca, 797
  5. Theodore, 775
  6. Mateo, 757
  7. Leo, 702
  8. Maverick, 701
  9. Noah, 698
  10. Luka, 652

The boy names that saw the largest increases in usage in terms of relative numbers of babies were…

  1. Ermias, increased by 3360%
  2. Sekani, 1992%
  3. Amenadiel, 500%
  4. Kross, 481%
  5. Alexios, 429%
  6. Taz, 340%
  7. Ezran, 333%
  8. Andoni, 309%
  9. Kaleel, 300%
  10. Taysom, 295%

Some explanations…

  • Ermias was the legal first name of rapper Nipsey Hussle (who died on March 31, 2019).
  • Sekani was the name of a young character in the film The Hate U Give (2018).
  • Amenadiel is a character on the TV series Lucifer.
  • Ezran is the name of a character on the Netflix series The Dragon Prince. (Ezran debuted in the data in 2018, the year the show started airing.)
  • Taysom Hill is a professional football player with the New Orleans Saints.

Here are the boy names that debuted most impressively in the 2019 data:

  1. Armias, debuted with 54 baby boys
  2. Izhaan, 50
  3. Jsan, 33
  4. Jaiari, 29
  5. Ripp, 26
  6. Sakani, 21
  7. Jardani, 19
  8. Iskender, 17
  9. Kamiri, 17
  10. Siar, 14
  • Armias and Sakani are spelling variants of Ermias and Sekani (above).
  • Izhaan is a celebrity baby: Izhaan Mirza Malik was born in October of 2018 to Indian tennis player Sania Mirza and Pakistani cricketer Shoaib Malik.
  • Jardani could be from Jardani Jovonovich, the “real” name of popular movie character John Wick…?

The boy names that saw the largest decreases in usage in terms of absolute numbers of babies were…

  1. Logan, decreased by 1,911 babies
  2. Michael, -1,174
  3. Jacob, -1,159
  4. Dylan, -1,076
  5. Mason, -1,065
  6. William, -1,048
  7. Connor, -932
  8. David, -871
  9. Ryan, -837
  10. Joshua, -836

The boy names that saw the largest decreases in usage in terms of relative numbers of babies were Nomar and Gianlucas (tied at -73%), and the boy name that saw the steepest drop off the list was Stephano (from 21 babies in 2018 to fewer than 5 in 2019).

If you can explain any of these rises (or drops), please leave a comment!

Source: SSA

Image: Adapted from Flag of the United States (public domain)