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

The trio in Rio: Leila, Liina, Lily

Leila and Liina Luik running at the 2016 Summer Olympics
Leila Luik (with Liina behind)

Next Sunday in Rio de Janeiro, 30-year-old identical (and alliterative) triplets Leila, Liina, and Lily Luik of Estonia are expected to run the women’s marathon. This will make the “Trio in Rio,” as they call themselves, the first set of triplets to compete in an Olympics.

In comparison, about 200 sets of twins have competed in the Olympics over the years. Here are some of the Olympic twins with similarly alliterative names:

  • Åke & Arne (Sweden) – not technically alliterative; see JJ’s comment
  • Catarina & Christina (Sweden)
  • Darius & Donatas (Lithuania)
  • Darrin & Dan (USA)
  • Dennis & Duane (USA)
  • Dionísio & Domingos (Portugal)
  • Jean-Jacques & Jean-Marc (France)
  • Jodie & Julie (Canada)
  • Jules & Julian (Belgium)
  • Katalin & Krisztina (Hungary)
  • Katrine & Kristine (Norway)
  • Lívia & Lucia (Slovakia)
  • Madeline & Margaret (Puerto Rico)
  • Marianne & Mildred (Netherlands)
  • Sandy & Sonia (Zimbabwe)
  • Malcolm “Mal” & Melville “Mel” (Jamaica)
  • Mark & Michael (Canada)
  • Maureen & Melanie (Netherlands)
  • McJoe & McWilliams (Puerto Rico)
  • Mikuláš & Miloslav (Slovakia)
  • Pascal & Patrick (France)
  • Paula & Peta (Bermuda)
  • Paulo Miguel & Pedro Miguel (Portugal)
  • Pavol & Peter (Slovakia)
  • Randolph & Robert (USA)
  • Rhoda & Rhona (Canada)
  • Ricardo & Rodrigo (Chile)
  • Sharon & Shirley (Canada)
  • Stanley & Sydney (Great Britain)
  • Tami & Toni (USA)
  • Terry & Tom (USA)
  • Valeriy & Volodymyr (Ukraine)
  • Valj & Vita (Ukraine)
  • Veronika & Viktoriya (Belarus)
  • Vida & Vidette (South Africa)
  • Zlatko & Zoran (Yugoslavia)

You can see a full list of Olympic twins in the OlympStats post Twins at the Olympics.

Have you been tuning in to the Olympics? If so, have you spotted any interesting names so far?

Source: “Racing in Triplicate.” Tampa Bay Times 30 Jun. 2016.
Image: Leila Luik Rio 2016 by Citizen59 under CC BY 3.0.

Popular baby names in New Jersey, 2015

Flag of New Jersey
Flag of New Jersey

According to New Jersey’s Department of Health, the most popular baby names in the state in 2015 were Isabella and Liam.

Here are New Jersey’s top 10 girl names and top 10 boy names of 2015:

Girl names

  1. Isabella
  2. Olivia
  3. Sophia
  4. Emma
  5. Mia
  6. Ava
  7. Abigail
  8. Emily
  9. Madison
  10. Charlotte

Boy names

  1. Liam
  2. Michael
  3. Jacob
  4. Noah
  5. Mason
  6. Matthew
  7. Dylan
  8. Joseph
  9. Benjamin
  10. Alexander

(The SSA data agreed that Liam being New Jersey’s top boy name, but said the top girl name was actually Emma.)

In the girls’ top 10, Charlotte replaced Sofia.

In the boys’ top 10, Mason, Dylan, and Benjamin replaced Daniel, Ethan, and Anthony.

Here are NJ’s 2014 rankings.

Source: Take a look at the top N.J. baby names of 2015

Image: Adapted from Flag of New Jersey (public domain)

Popular baby names in Ireland, 2015

Flag of Ireland
Flag of Ireland

According to data from Ireland’s Central Statistics Office (CSO), the most popular baby names in Ireland in 2015 were Emily and Jack.

Here are Ireland’s top 10 girl names and top 10 boy names of 2015:

Girl NamesBoy Names
1. Emily, 626 baby girls
2. Emma, 449
3. Ava, 421
4. Sophie, 407
5. Amelia, 400
6. Ella, 384
7. Lucy, 379
8. Grace, 367
9. Chloe, 362
10. Mia, 360		1. Jack, 752 baby boys
2. James, 697
3. Daniel, 617
4. Conor, 558
5. Sean, 530
6. Adam, 449
7. Noah, 438
8. Michael, 434
9. Charlie, 399
10. Luke, 382

Here are some quick comparisons between these rankings with the 2014 rankings…

New to the top 10:

  • Girl names: Chloe (replaced Aoife, now ranked 13th)
  • Boy names: Michael (replaced Harry, now tied for 14th with Cian)

New to the top 100:

  • Girl names: Maisie, Annabelle, Mila, Rosie, and Eimear
  • Boy names: Lorcan, George, Daithi, Brian, Edward, and Daire

Biggest increases within the top 100:

  • Girl names (by rank): Mila, Fiadh, Maisie, Annabelle, and Alice
  • Girl names (by raw numbers): Fiadh, Roisin, Robyn, Sadie, and Chloe
  • Boy names (by rank): Ollie, Donnacha, Billy, Tadhg, and Brian/Daire (tied)
  • Boy names (by raw numbers): Oliver, Michael, Fionn, Tadhg, and Finn

And finally, some of the “less common” (non-top 100) baby names mentioned in the CSO’s statistical release:

  • Girl names: Paris, Nelly, Dakota, Kim, Pixie, and Sabina
  • Boy names: Barra, Pauric, Zayn, Gus, Romeo, and Otis

Source: Irish Babies’ Names 2015 – CSO

Image: Adapted from Flag of Ireland (public domain)

Biggest changes in boy name popularity, 2015

Which boy names increased and decreased the most in popularity from 2014 to 2015?

Here are two ways to look at it. The SSA’s way looks at ranking differences and covers the top 1,000 boy names (roughly). My way looks at raw number differences and takes all boy names on the SSA’s list into account.

Biggest Increases

Raw number increases (all boy names)Ranking increases (top 1,000 boy names)
1. Oliver, +2,181 babies (9,411 to 11,592)
2. Matteo, +1,320 babies (835 to 2,155)
3. Grayson, +1,296 babies (6,556 to 7,852)
4. Mateo, +1,258 babies (3,729 to 4,987)
5. Lincoln, +1,150 babies (4,809 to 5,959)
6. Theodore, +895 babies (3,216 to 4,111)
7. Ezra, +893 babies (3,406 to 4,299)
8. Hudson, +779 babies (5,229 to 6,008)
9. Asher, +754 babies (4,305 to 5,059)
10. Wyatt, +750 babies (8,847 to 9,597)		1. Riaan, +1,360 spots (2,286th to 926th)
2. Huxley, +392 spots (1,354th to 962nd)
3. Wilder, +360 spots (1,324th to 964th)
4. Jaziel, +276 spots (1,215th to 939th)
5. Canaan, +271 spots (1,077th to 806th)
6. Kaison, +251 spots (981st to 730th)
7. Brixton, +212 spots (1,197th to 985th)
8. Ridge, +204 spots (1,136th to 932nd)
9. Omari, +198 spots (708th to 510th)
10. Jabari, +194 spots (1,139th to 945th)

Riaan was boosted by a celebrity baby born in late 2014 to Bollywood actors Riteish Deshmukh and Genelia D’Souza.

Jaziel’s rise seems to be due to Jaziel Avilez, a young singer featured in the 2014 song “Padre Ejemplar” [vid] by Mexican group Los Titanes de Durango.

Omari’s rise can be traced back to American actor Omari Hardwick, who has appeared in the TV shows Being Mary Jane and Power lately, and Jabari’s to basketball player Jabari Parker, the second overall pick in the 2014 NBA draft.

Biggest Decreases

Raw number decreases (all boy names)Ranking decreases (top 1,000 boy names)
1. Jase, -1,459 babies (3,737 to 2,278)
2. Jayden, -1,448 babies (12,923 to 11,475)
3. Joshua, -1,123 babies (10,843 to 9,720)
4. Andrew, -1,097 babies (11,124 to 10,027)
5. Michael, -1,079 babies (15,400 to 14,321)
6. Jacob, -996 babies (16,812 to 15,816)
7. Anthony, -974 babies (11,538 to 10,564)
8. William, -967 babies (16,776 to 15,809)
9. Jace, -965 babies (6,276 to 5,311)
10. Alexander, -902 babies (15,362 to 14,460)		1. Arnav, -666 spots (888th to 1,554th)
2. Jayse, -257 spots (910th to 1,167th)
3. Neymar, -240 spots (550th to 790th)
4. Rylee, -228 spots (879th to 1,107th)
5. Johnathon, -213 spots (915th to 1,128th)
6. Broderick, -195 spots (971st to 1,166th)
7. Brenden, -187 spots (711th to 898th)
8. Yael, -178 spots (913th to 1,091st)
9. Aidyn, -173 spots (925th to 1,098th)
10. Gavyn, -167 spots (944th to 1,111th)

I can remember Neymar debuting in 2010 under the influence was Brazilian footballer Neymar.

In 2014, the big winners were Oliver and Bode, and the big losers were Jayden and Bently.

Sources: Change in Popularity from 2014 to 2015 – SSA, Emma and Noah Once Again Social Security’s Most Popular Baby Names for 2015 – SSA