Michael surname meaning

Michael is a surname from the personal name Michael, ultimately Hebrew Mika’el, “Who is like God?” The archangel’s name became popular across Christian Europe and among Jewish families, so English, German, Dutch, Greek, and other communities formed hereditary surnames from it. In North America the English spelling often absorbed cognates and patronymics from Hungarian Mihály, Czech Michal, Arabic Mikhail, Greek Papamichael, and similar forms. Michaels, Michel, and Mikhail are related spellings. Parent’s name is high confidence: dictionary sources agree the surname is the given name used as a family name, not a separate trade or place word.