Michaelene
A feminine name derived from the Hebrew Michael, meaning "who is like God."
Name Census estimates that about 986 living Americans carry the first name Michaelene. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Michaelene today is around 63 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Michaelene births was 1949 (69 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Michaelene. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
People living today
986
~ 1 in 347,621 Americans
Peak year
1949
69 babies that year
Average age
63
years old
1994 SSA rank
#10,199
Tracked since 1933
Census
Michaelene in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,191 people with the first name Michaelene, which placed it at #10,964 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#10,964
National first-name rank
People counted
1.2K
1,191 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
90.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Michaelene
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Michaelene is White at 90.8%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (3.0%) and Two or More Races (2.4%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Michaelene described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Michaelene at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White90.8% · 1,082
- Hispanic or Latino3.0% · 36
- Two or more races2.4% · 28
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.9% · 23
- Black or African American1.5% · 18
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.3% · 4
Popularity
Michaelene: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Michaelene from the 1930s through to the 1990s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1940s, with 398 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1940s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Michaelene by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Michaelene during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Michaelenes live
The SSA's state-level files cover 8 states and territories. Pennsylvania, Illinois, Ohio recorded the most babies named Michaelene, while Indiana, New Jersey, Iowa recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 60 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Michaelene
The name Michaelene is a feminine form of the name Michael, which traces its origins to the Hebrew name Mikha'el, meaning "who is like God?" The name Michael itself is derived from the rhetorical question "mi ka'El," which translates to "who is like God?" This name was borne by one of the archangels in Jewish, Christian, and Islamic traditions.
Michaelene is a more modern variant of the name, likely emerging in the 19th or 20th century as a way to create a distinctly feminine version of the traditional Michael. The name retains its connection to the Biblical archangel Michael, who is revered as a protector and leader of the heavenly armies.
While the name Michaelene is not as widely recorded in historical texts as its masculine counterpart, there are a few notable figures who have borne this name throughout history. One of the earliest recorded instances is Michaelene Wandor, a British playwright, and academic born in 1935. She is known for her contributions to feminist theatre and her work in promoting women's voices in the arts.
Another notable Michaelene is Michaelene Fredenburg, an American actress born in 1969. She has appeared in various television shows and films, including The X-Files, Millennium, and The Skulls.
In the realm of sports, Michaelene Iuzzolino is a Canadian former professional tennis player who competed in the 1980s and 1990s. She achieved a career-high ranking of No. 18 in the world in singles and won two WTA Tour titles during her career.
In the field of academia, Michaelene D. Cox is an American professor of English and women's and gender studies at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She is known for her work on feminist theory and literature.
Lastly, Michaelene M. Walsh is an American lawyer and judge who served as a United States Magistrate Judge for the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois from 2001 to 2016.
While not as widely used as its masculine counterpart, the name Michaelene carries the same rich history and symbolic meaning, connecting its bearers to the revered archangel Michael and the themes of protection, strength, and leadership.
People
Michaelene + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Michaelene as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with M
Other first names starting with M with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Michaelene: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Michaelene?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 986 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Michaelene going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 347,621 US residents.
Is Michaelene a common name?
We classify Michaelene as "Very Rare". It ranks above 90% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,429 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Michaelene most popular?
The single biggest year for Michaelene was 1949, when 69 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Michaelene is about 63 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Michaelene in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,191 people with the name Michaelene, or 0.39 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #10,964 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Michaelene in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Michaelene?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Michaelene appears almost entirely female. Of the 1,191 people counted with this name, 99.7% were female and only a very small share were male. The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Michaelene?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Michaelene is White at 90.8%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (3.0%) and Two or More Races (2.4%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Michaelene most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Michaelene in the 2020 Census, accounting for 90.8% (1,082 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Michaelene in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Michaelene a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Michaelene in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Michaelene still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Michaelene in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Michaelene can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people have Michaelene as a first name?
For a quick modern take, check how many people share the name Michaelene on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org.