Michela
A feminine Italian name derived from the masculine Michael, meaning "who is like God".
Name Census estimates that about 2,069 living Americans carry the first name Michela. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Michela today is around 31 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Michela births was 1998 (99 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Michela. 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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Michela with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
2.1K
~ 1 in 165,662 Americans
Peak year
1998
99 babies that year
Average age
31
years old
2024 SSA rank
#7,120
Tracked since 1911
Census
Michela in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 2,678 people with the first name Michela, which placed it at #6,088 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
#6,088
National first-name rank
People counted
2.7K
2,678 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.9
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
74.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Michela
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Michela is White at 74.6%. The next largest groups are Black (10.5%) and Hispanic (8.7%). 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 Michela 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 Michela at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White74.6% · 1,997
- Black or African American10.5% · 280
- Hispanic or Latino8.7% · 234
- Two or more races4.3% · 116
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.6% · 42
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.3% · 9
Popularity
Michela: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Michela from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 11 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 722 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1990s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Michela 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 Michela during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Michelas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 8 states and territories. New York, California, Massachusetts recorded the most babies named Michela, while Illinois, Ohio, Pennsylvania recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 78 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Michela
The name Michela is a feminine Italian name derived from the Hebrew name Michael, which means "who is like God?" The name has its roots in the ancient Hebrew language and culture, dating back to biblical times.
In the Old Testament, Michael is one of the principal archangels and is revered as the leader of the heavenly armies against the forces of evil. The name was widely adopted in early Christianity and has been a popular name throughout Europe and the Mediterranean region for centuries.
The earliest recorded use of the name Michela in its Italian form can be traced back to the 12th century. One of the earliest known bearers of the name was Michela de Ripa, a noble woman from Pisa who lived in the late 12th century.
Over the centuries, several notable figures have borne the name Michela. One of the most famous was Michela de Cesena, an Italian philosopher and scholar who lived in the 13th century and was a prominent figure in the intellectual circles of her time.
Another notable Michela was Michela Muntera, an Italian painter and artist from the 16th century who is known for her religious works and portraits. Her paintings can be found in various churches and museums across Italy.
In the field of literature, Michela Murgia was a celebrated Italian novelist and playwright who lived from 1972 to 2023. Her works often explored themes of gender, identity, and social issues, and she was a prominent voice in contemporary Italian literature.
Michela Moioli is a contemporary Italian snowboarder who competed in the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, where she won a gold medal in the snowboard cross event, becoming the first Italian woman to win an Olympic gold medal in this discipline.
While the name Michela has its origins in ancient Hebrew and early Christianity, it has become firmly rooted in Italian culture and has been a popular choice for centuries, with many notable bearers of the name leaving their mark in various fields throughout history.
People
Michela + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Michela 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
Michela: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Michela?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2,069 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Michela 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 165,662 US residents.
Is Michela a common name?
We classify Michela as "Rare". It ranks above 93.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,208 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Michela most popular?
The single biggest year for Michela was 1998, when 99 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Michela is about 31 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Michela in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 2,678 people with the name Michela, or 0.89 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #6,088 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 Michela 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 Michela?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Michela leans strongly female. 2,651 people counted with this name were female (98.8%), compared with 33 male bearers (1.2%). 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 Michela?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Michela is White at 74.6%. The next largest groups are Black (10.5%) and Hispanic (8.7%). 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 Michela most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Michela in the 2020 Census, accounting for 74.6% (1,997 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 Michela in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Michela a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Michela 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 Michela still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Michela 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 Michela 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 are named Michela?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many people have the name Michela at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.