(male) English form of a common biblical name (meaning ‘who is like God?’ in Hebrew) borne by one of the archangels, the protector of the ancient Hebrews, who is also regarded as a saint of the Catholic Church. In the Middle Ages, Michael was regarded as captain of the heavenly host (see Revelation 12:7–9), symbol of the Church Militant, and patron of soldiers. He was often depicted bearing a flaming sword. The name is also borne by a Persian prince and ally of Belshazzar mentioned in the Book of Daniel. Since the early 1900s it has been one of the most enduringly popular boys' names in the English-speaking world. See also Michal.
Cognates: Irish: Mícheál. Scottish Gaelic: Mìcheal. Welsh: Meical, Mihangel. German: Michael. Dutch: Michaël, Machiel. Scandinavian: Mikael. Danish, Norwegian: Mikkel. French: Michel. Spanish, Portuguese: Miguel. Catalan: Miquel. Italian: Michele. Russian: Mikhail. Polish: Michał. Czech: Michal. Croatian: Mihovil. Serbian: Mihajlo. Slovenian: Mihael. Finnish: Mikko. Hungarian: Mihály.
Short forms: Mike, Mick.
Pet forms: Mick(e)y, Mikey.
English, French, Dutch, Polish, Czech, and Slovenian: from a Germanic personal name (see Bernhard). The popularity of the personal name was greatly increased by virtue of its having been borne by St. Bernard of Clairvaux (c.1090–1153), founder and abbot of the Cistercian monastery at Clairvaux.
Americanized form of German Bernhard or any of the other cognates in European languages; for forms see Hanks and Hodges 1988.
FOREBEARS The first bearer of the name in Canada was from the Lorraine region of France. He is documented in Quebec city in 1666 as Jean Bernard. He and some of his descendants bore the secondary surnames Anse and Hanse, because his original forename must have been Hans (the German equivalent of French Jean, English John). Another bearer, from La Rochelle, is documented in Quebec city in 1676; and a third, from the Poitou region of France, was also documented in Quebec city, in 1713, with the secondary surname Léveillé. Other documented secondary names are Jolicoeur, Larivière, and Lajoie.The Bernard families of LA have origins in France, Acadia, the West Indies, and Germany; they have been in the U.S. since the earliest days of settlement.
