(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.
Scottish: Aberdeenshire surname, presumably a topographic name referring to the River Don, although according to Black, it may be a variant of Dunn.
Italian: in northern Italy (Venetia), from the personal name Dono, a shortening of dono di Dio ‘gift of God’; in the south, it is probably from the honorific title don, meaning ‘master’.
French: from the personal name Dodo(ne).
Spanish: unexplained; perhaps from the term of address don ‘mister’ (Latin dominus), in the patronymic form De Don, or perhaps a habitational name from a hypothetical place so called.
Hungarian: from a short form of the personal name Donát (see Donath).
Jewish (Ashkenazic): from the personal name Don, a variant of Dan.
Vietnamese (Ðôn): unexplained.
