
Patronymic surnames that come from Michael include Carmichael, DiMichele, MacMichael, McMichael, Michaels, Micallef, Michaelson, Michiels, Michalka, Michels, Mihály, Mikeladze, Mikhaylov, Mikkelsen, Mitchell, Michalski, Mykhaylenko and Mikaelyan. While Michael is most often a masculine name, it is also given to women, such as the actresses Michael Michele and Michael Learned and Michael Steele, the former bassist for the Bangles. Although sometimes considered erroneous, an alternative spelling of the name is Micheal.

The theophoric name is a rhetorical question – "Who like El?", whose answer is "there is none like El", or "there is none as famous and powerful as God." This question is known in Latin as Quis ut Deus?.

Michael is a usually masculine given name derived from the Hebrew phrase מי כאל mī kāʼēl, 'Who like-El', in Aramaic: ܡܝܟܐܝܠ ( Mīkhāʼēl ). Machiel, Maicon or Maycon, Michaela, Michelangelo, Michal, Michał, Micheal, Mícheál, Michel, Michele, Michelle, Michiel, Miguel, Mihael, Mihai, Mihailo, Mihajlo, Mihalis, Mikhalis, Mihály, Mihangel, Mihkel, Mihovil, Miika, Mikael, Mikail, Mikal, Mikel, Miķelis, Mikhail or Mihail (Михаил), Mihails, Maikls, Mikkel, Mikko, Miklós, Mishael, Misho, Mitchell, Mykael, Michol, Michole

Mic, Mich, Micha, Mick, Mickey, Micki, Mickie, Mike, Mikey, Miki, Mikki, Mico, Miko, Mikha, Misha, Mischa, Mitch, Mitt, Micci " Who is like God?", "there is none like God", or "there is none as famous and powerful as God"
