Miguel
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The story
Miguel is an old Iberian form of Michael, established in Spanish, Portuguese and Galician. Its Hebrew source asks “Who is like God?”, a question traditionally understood to answer that nobody is God’s equal. The Dictionary of Medieval Names records the exact Old Spanish spelling Miguel in a document from 1225.
Miguel de Cervantes made the name a lasting literary association through Don Quixote, published in two parts in the early seventeenth century. His hero reads tales of knights and sets out to live by them, bringing imagined adventures into contact with ordinary life. That play between what a person reads, believes and encounters helped reshape what a novel could do. Cervantes’s own life included fighting at Lepanto, losing the use of his left hand, and years of captivity in Algiers before he was ransomed.
Another documented bearer belongs to Spain’s colonial history in the Philippines. Miguel López de Legazpi led a Spanish expedition across the Pacific, and the Philippine city of Legazpi commemorates his name.
Pixar’s Coco adds a Mexican fictional Miguel, a boy who teaches himself music despite his family’s ban and builds a guitar after the instrument of a performer he admires. He also shares his everyday adventures with his great-grandmother, Mamá Coco.
Miguel across languages
One shared root links 16 names across 6 languages.
Shared root: from Hebrew Mikha’el, "who is like God?" The question expresses that nobody is God’s equal; Michael is a biblical angel
The constellation
11 more branches of this family
How popular is Miguel around the world?
In the United States, 11,535 babies were named Miguel between 2020 and 2025. In Spain, 230,734 residents are named Miguel, the 16th most common name among men, with a mean age of 48.2 years.
Miguel is on the official records of the United States, Spain, Brazil, Mexico City, Chile, Argentina, Puerto Rico, Montevideo, Canada, New Zealand, Ireland, France, England and Wales, Scotland, Austria and Poland.
Miguel crosses languages: it is in the latest top 300 of an English-speaking birth record, of a Spanish-speaking one and of Brazil’s 2022 census, which counts people of every age. The full lists: English and Spanish · English and Portuguese · Spanish and Portuguese
United States
1 in 1,900
In the United States, 11,535 babies were named Miguel between 2020 and 2025.
Shape drawn from US Social Security baby-name records. Miguel peaked in the 2000s and the 2010s in nearly equal measure. Miguel went to 2,573 US babies in 2015 and 1,661 in 2025, 65% of the earlier figure.
Births with a Social Security record. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration
Spain
1 in 190
In Spain, 230,734 residents are named Miguel, the 16th most common name among men, with a mean age of 48.2 years.
In Spain, Miguel was the 29th most common name among boys born in 2024.
Residents of Spain on 1 January 2025. Spain publishes how old a name’s living bearers are, not a birth series, so there is no year chart. Source: INE (Spain), Censo de Población anual, 1 January 2025
Brazil
1 in 280
At the 2022 census, 715,241 people in Brazil were named Miguel, the 18th most common name, with a median age of 7.
Among people named Miguel living in Brazil at the 2022 census, more were born in the 2010s than in any other decade.
people alive at the 2022 census, by decade of birth
The census also counted 157,324 born between 2020 and August 2022, too recent a span to chart. People alive and resident in Brazil at the 2022 census, a living-population count, not births; names under 20 are withheld at source. Source: IBGE, Censo Demográfico 2022
Mexico City City
1 in 300
In Mexico City, there were 388 registrations of Miguel in 2022.
share of that year’s registrations in the city
Civil-registry acts in Mexico City by registration year. Counts are lower bounds (names under 6 in a month and borough are removed at source) and count name-instances, not people; compound names are split, so “Maria Jose” counts under each part. 2023 (14 registrations through 3 Mar) is excluded as partial. Source: Registro Civil of Mexico City, open data portal, registered given names 2000-2023
Chile
1 in 700
In Chile, 255 boys were registered as Miguel in 2021, every accent spelling counted together.
share of that year’s name registrations
First-name registrations with Chile’s civil registry by year of registration, 1920–2021, counted as spelling groups (Sofía, Sofia and Sofìa are one name, shown with its most-registered spelling); the registry withholds nothing, nametree keeps the groups that reached 5 registrations in some year, and shares divide by every registration of the year. Source: Servicio de Registro Civil e Identificación (Chile) via the guaguas package, first-name registrations 1920-2021
Argentina
1 in 1,100
In Argentina, 592 newborns were given the name Miguel in 2024.
share of that year’s name registrations
Given-name components of births in Argentina 2012–2024; national cells are lower bounds and no sex split is published. Source: RENAPER (Argentina), Dirección Nacional de Población, given names 2012-2024
Puerto Rico
1 in 1,100
In Puerto Rico, 16 babies were named Miguel in 2025, and 3,372 have carried the name since 1998.
share of that year’s births on record
First given name only, from Social Security records of births in Puerto Rico; any name-sex-year under 5 births is withheld at source. Shares divide by the Puerto Rico Demographic Registry’s count of births on the island; the 2025 count is provisional. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration, territory name file (Puerto Rico)
Montevideo City
1 in 1,5002011
In Montevideo, 16 boys named Miguel were born in 2011, spelling variants counted together.
share of that year’s births on record
Births in the department of Montevideo (not all of Uruguay) by first name and year of birth, 1940–2011, from the city’s civil registry, which writes names in capitals, almost always without accents; counted as spelling groups (accent and punctuation variants merged), nothing is withheld at source, and 2012 is excluded as a partial year. Source: Servicio de Registro Civil, Intendencia de Montevideo, Partidas de Registro Civil de Montevideo (Licencia de Datos Abiertos - Uruguay); 2012 dropped as partial
Canada
1 in 4,000
In Canada, 92 boys named Miguel were born in 2024, the 360th most common name among boys that year.
share of that year’s name registrations
First given names from provincial and territorial vital statistics across Canada; any name-sex-year under 5 is excluded at source, and small Quebec counts carry a randomized adjustment made at source. Shares divide by Statistics Canada’s count of live births for the year; the 2024 count is preliminary. Source: Statistics Canada, first names at birth (table 17-10-0147-01)
New Zealand
1 in 4,800
In New Zealand, 12 boys named Miguel were registered in 2025.
share of that year’s name registrations
First given names from New Zealand birth registrations, grouped by registration year; any name under 10 in a year is excluded at source. Shares divide by Stats NZ’s count of births registered to mothers living in New Zealand, under 1% below the registry’s own count. Source: Department of Internal Affairs (New Zealand), baby name popularity over time
Ireland
1 in 4,900
In Ireland, 11 boys named Miguel were born in 2025, the 348th most common name among boys that year.
share of that year’s name registrations
Exact registered spellings from Irish vital statistics; any name under 3 in a year is withheld at source, and accented spellings (fadas) are recorded reliably only from 2018. Source: Central Statistics Office (Ireland), Irish babies' names
France
1 in 6,800
In France, about 95 boys named Miguel were born in 2025, the 477th most common name among boys that year.
share of that year’s births on record
Births in France by year of birth, from INSEE’s fichier des prénoms (1900–2025; Mayotte from 2012); exact spellings count separately (Léo and Leo are different names), any spelling under 3 in a year and sex is withheld at source, every count is rounded to the nearest 5 at source, and nametree keeps the spellings that reached 20 in some year. Shares divide by INSEE’s count of births in France from 1957, and before that by the file’s own total for the year; INSEE says the file is not complete before 1946. Source: Insee, fichier des prénoms (last updated 2026-07-16)
England and Wales
1 in 7,500
In England and Wales, 78 boys named Miguel were born in 2025, the 494th most common name among boys that year.
share of that year’s name registrations
Birth registrations in England and Wales (not the whole UK); exact spellings are counted separately, and any spelling under 3 in a year is withheld at source. Source: Office for National Statistics, baby names in England and Wales
Scotland
1 in 11,000
In Scotland, 4 boys named Miguel were registered in 2024, the 619th most common name among boys that year.
The count never rose above 4 in a year, too few to chart.
Births registered in Scotland; different spellings count separately but accents are merged at source, and any spelling under 3 in total is suppressed. Source: National Records of Scotland, babies' first names
Austria
1 in 19,000
In Austria, 4 boys named Miguel were born in 2025, the 827th most common name among boys that year, spellings that differ only by special characters counted together.
share of that year’s births on record
Live births in Austria by year of birth, 1984–2025, from Statistik Austria’s first-name statistics; spellings that differ only by special characters are counted together (umlauts stay apart), every name down to a single birth is published, and the count covers babies with Austrian citizenship only until 2009, every baby from 2010, and from 2015 also births abroad to mothers living in Austria. Shares divide by Statistik Austria’s count of live births from 2010, and before that by the file’s own total for the year. Source: Statistik Austria - data.statistik.gv.at (OGDEXT_VORNAMEN_1, updated 2026-07-09)
Poland
1 in 62,000
In Poland, 4 boys named Miguel were born in 2025, the 490th most common name among boys that year.
share of that year’s name registrations
First names given to children born in Poland by year of birth, 2000–2025, from the PESEL population register (Ministry of Digital Affairs); exact spellings count separately (Łukasz and Lukasz are different names), names given fewer than 5 times in a year were left off the list through 2012 and fewer than 2 times from 2013, and the register also counts children born abroad, so its yearly sums run above Poland’s live births. Shares divide by the register’s own published total for the year, never by births. Source: Ministry of Digital Affairs, PESEL register (dane.gov.pl)
Norway
last on record 2021
Miguel is not on the 2025 record for Norway, where names carried by fewer than 4 people in a year are withheld at source.
share of the boys on the register for that year, SSB’s own figure
People who have or have had a Norwegian ID number, emigrants left out, from Statistics Norway’s name statistics (release of January 2026): by year of birth for 1945–2020 (everyone born that year who was ever registered in Norway, including people who registered later and people who have since died) and by year of naming from 2021; only first names carried by 200 or more living people are listed, counts under 4 are withheld, and SSB merges spellings that differ only by letters outside the Norwegian alphabet. The shares are SSB’s own, of the people of that sex and year in that count; the 2025 figure counts the children named that year, and no year is a count of births. Source: Statistics Norway (SSB), table 10467 (updated 2026-01-28)
South Australia
last on record 2016
Miguel is not on the 2017 record for South Australia, whose registry publishes every name given that year.
The count never rose above 4 in a year, too few to chart.
Births registered in South Australia (not all of Australia) by first name and year of registration, 1944–2017, from the state’s Births, Deaths and Marriages registry, which publishes every name down to a single birth in capitals; a spelling its export repeats inside a year is counted once, and from 2018 only a top 100 is published, so the series ends at 2017. Source: Consumer and Business Services (South Australia), popular baby names
When you meet Miguel
Most people given the name Miguel in the United States were born between 1980 and 2009. The Miguel you meet today is most often in his 20s or 30s.
Estimated from US Social Security birth registrations and typical lifespans; a rough guide, not a rule.
Where Miguel travels
Mexican American · who is like God (Spanish form of Michael); a foundational classic across generations
Keep exploring
Names like Miguel · Nicknames for Miguel · Portuguese and Brazilian baby names · Filipino baby names · Filipino American baby names · Mexican American baby names · Climbers and fallers
The Miguel deep dive
Whether you’re naming a baby or exploring your own name’s history, this is a personal letter, not a list: where Miguel truly comes from, how it traveled, and what a century of records reveals. If you have grown a tree on nametree, it also considers how Miguel fits with your family’s names and surname.
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