Michael (given name)

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Michael Zito - the person Danielle Samford hates.


Look up Michael in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
For other uses, see Michael (given name) (disambiguation).

Michael or Micha'el is a given name that comes from Hebrew: מִיכָאֵל / מיכאל, meaning "Who is like God"; see Theophory in the Bible. There are various forms of the name: Arabic: ميخائيل; Latin: Michael, Michaèl or Míchaël; Septuagint Greek: Μιχαηλ or Mikhaēl; Portuguese or Spanish: Miguel; Russian: Михаил.

Michael is a popular male name in nearly all European countries, as well as many former colonies of European countries, particularly the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and many Caribbean and African countries, as well as Israel. Miguel is a popular name in most Latin American countries. The name has been particularly popular in Orthodox Christian countries, and was borne by several rulers of the Byzantine and Russian Empires. In English it is sometimes shortened to Mike or, especially in Britain, Mick. In the United States, Michael has been one of the top three baby names for boys for the past 50 years.

The name first appears in the Bible, Numbers 13 verse 13, where Sethur the son of Michael is one of twelve spies sent into the Land of Canaan.

The Archangel Michael, referred to later in the Bible (Daniel 12 verse 1), is considered a saint by the Roman Catholic Church. September 29 is the feast day of the three archangels, Michael, Gabriel and Raphael.

The female form of Michael is Michelle or Michaela, though there are females with the name of Michael, such as Michael Learned.

Surnames that come from Michael include Mitchell, Micallef and Carmichael.

Short form and other versions

"Mike", "Mick", "Mikey", "Mic", and "Mickey" are short forms of, or nick-names for, Michael as a given name. The name is commonly associated with Irish people.

Meik and Maik are German short forms of Michael. The German pronunciation of both variants is identical to the English pronunciation of "Mike", since both are directly derived from their English counterpart.

Maicol is another spelling of "Michael". It is a name given in Brazil (where it is more usual to write it as Maicon), Italy and sometimes other Latin countries.[citation needed]

"Mick"

Many Irish and Scottish surnames begin with "Mc" or "Mick", as in McDowell, or McShane, from which people from Ireland and Scotland often get the nickname "Mick". (Mc usually means "son of". For instance, the surname McNulty literally means son of Nulty, or — for the Scottish — MacDonald means son of Donald). Many Irish people are also named after the Irish leader Michael Collins [citation needed], making Michael (Mick) a very common name.

It is sometimes used, usually with a lower-case "m", as an offensive slang term in British English and American English for an Irish person or a Roman Catholic. This is unrelated to the name Michael, however.

The term "mick" is also used as slang in the phrase taking the mickey or "take the mick/mickey" meaning to tease.

Notable European royalty named Michael

See also: List of people by name: Mic for more names.

Byzantine Emperors

Russian rulers

King of Poland

Kings of Portugal

Rulers of Romania

British Royal Family

Popular culture

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