Michael (Name)

Michael (Hebrew: מִיכָאֵל; Aramaic: ܡܝܟܐܝܠ, romanized: Mīkhāʼēl) is a common masculine given name usually thought to be from the Hebrew rhetorical question מי כאל (mī kāʼēl), "Who [is] like [the Hebrew god] El?", thus being a theophoric name 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? Paradoxically, the name is also sometimes interpreted as "One who is like God." An alternative spelling of the name is Micheal. 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.