Gender: Feminine
Origin: French

The name is derived from the French female name, Michèle, a feminine form of Michel.

The name was popularized outside of France from the 1965 Beatles ballad, Michelle. Between 1968 and 1969 the name entered the U.S. top 10, ranking in as the 2nd most popular female name in the United States. As of 2010, Michelle came in as the 125th most popular female name in America.

Michelle’s usage has spread to Scandinavia, the Netherlands, South America and German-speaking countries. She is the 26th most popular female name in Italian-speaking, Switzerland, (2010)

Her rankings in other countries are as follows:

• # 151 (Netherlands, 2010)