Michael Minter

(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.

English: occupational name for a moneyer, Old English myntere, an agent derivative of mynet ‘coin’, from Late Latin moneta ‘money’, originally an epithet of the goddess Juno (meaning ‘counselor’, from monere ‘advise’), at whose temple in Rome the coins were struck. The English term was used at an early date to denote a workman who stamped the coins; later it came to denote the supervisors of the mint, who were wealthy and socially elevated members of the merchant class, and who were made responsible for the quality of the coinage by having their names placed on the coins.