Geneanet > Resources > Family Names > MICHAEL

Origin and popularity of the name MICHAEL

Origin

Michael : English German Dutch Jewish and Greek: from the personal name Michael ultimately from Hebrew Mika’el ‘Who is like God?’. This was borne by an archangel in the Bible the protector of Israel (Daniel 10:13 12:1; Rev. 12:7). In Christian tradition Michael was regarded as the warrior archangel conqueror of Satan and the personal name was correspondingly popular throughout Europe especially in knightly and military families. In North America the English form of the surname has absorbed many cognates from other languages e.g. Hungarian Mihály (see Mihaly) Czech and Slovak Michal Assyrian/Chaldean or Arabic Mikhael and Mikhail and also patronymics and other derivatives from these names e.g. Greek Papamichael its cognate Papamichalis and Michaelides Serbian Mihajlović (see Mihajlovic) and Slovenian Mihelčič (see Mihelcic). Compare Mikeal.

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Source : DAFN2 : Dictionary of American Family Names 2nd edition, ©2022 by Patrick Hanks and Oxford University Press
FANBI : The Oxford Dictionary if Family Names in Britain and Ireland, ©2016, University of the West of England
FANBI : The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Family Names in Britain, ©2021, University of the West of England

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Last name frequency

Geographic distribution of the 28,583 individuals with the name MICHAEL on Geneanet.

 

Most found places for the name MICHAEL:

    This last name in the family trees

    See below the Geneanet members' family trees which contain the last name MICHAEL

    meiczinger
    (777 individuals)
    haas
    (441 individuals)
    vhamill3
    (405 individuals)
    pejemi
    (266 individuals)

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