Michelene
A feminine French variant of the name Michael, meaning "who is like God".
Name Census estimates that about 551 living Americans carry the first name Michelene. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Michelene today is around 62 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Michelene births was 1950 (33 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Michelene. 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
551
~ 1 in 622,059 Americans
Peak year
1950
33 babies that year
Average age
62
years old
1998 SSA rank
#15,760
Tracked since 1939
Popularity
Michelene: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Michelene from the 1930s through to the 1990s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1950s, with 193 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1950s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Michelene 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 Michelene during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Michelenes live
The SSA's state-level files cover 5 states and territories. Pennsylvania, Illinois, New York recorded the most babies named Michelene, while Michigan, California, New York recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 16 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Michelene
The name Michelene is derived from the French masculine name Michel, which is the French form of the Hebrew name Michael. The name Michael means "who is like God" in Hebrew, originating from the rhetorical question "mi ke El," with "mi" meaning "who," "ke" meaning "like," and "El" being one of the Hebrew names for God.
The name Michel was introduced to France during the Middle Ages, and it became a popular name among French nobility and royalty. The feminine form, Michelene, emerged as a variant of the name in the 17th century, although it was not as widely used as the masculine form.
One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Michelene can be found in the writings of the French playwright and novelist, Alain-René Lesage, who lived from 1668 to 1747. In his novel "Le Diable Boiteux" (The Devil on Two Sticks), published in 1707, one of the characters is named Michelene.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Michelene. One of the earliest was Michelene Wandor, an English poet and playwright who was born in 1933 and is known for her contributions to the feminist literary movement.
Another notable Michelene was Michelene Wandor, an American actress and singer who was active in the 1940s and 1950s. She appeared in several Broadway productions and was also a regular performer on popular radio shows of the time.
In the field of art, Michelene Malzahn was a Canadian sculptor and painter who lived from 1924 to 2016. Her works have been exhibited in numerous galleries and museums across Canada and internationally.
Michelene Iraheta is a Salvadoran-American singer-songwriter who rose to fame as a contestant on the eighth season of American Idol in 2009. Although she did not win the competition, she has since released several successful albums and has toured extensively.
Lastly, Michelene Wandor is a British academic and writer who has published numerous works on literary theory, feminism, and cultural studies. She was born in 1942 and has held teaching positions at various universities in the United Kingdom.
People
Michelene + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Michelene 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
Michelene: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Michelene?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 551 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Michelene 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 622,059 US residents.
Is Michelene a common name?
We classify Michelene as "Very Rare". It ranks above 85.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 750 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Michelene most popular?
The single biggest year for Michelene was 1950, when 33 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Michelene is about 62 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Michelene a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Michelene 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.
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.