Micaela
- Pronunciation
- [Mi-cae-la]
- Gender
- Female
- Meaning
- Feminine Of Michael Gift From God.
- Origin
- English
About the Name Micaela
Micaela is the feminine form of Michael, the Hebrew name meaning "who is like God?" — a rhetorical question understood as an affirmation of devotion, sometimes rendered simply as "gift from God." In its Spanish and Italian dress, Micaela softens the strong biblical original into a flowing, four-syllable name with a warm, melodic grace, and it has long been a favorite across the Spanish-speaking world, where Michael-derived names carry deep religious and cultural weight.
The name's appeal lies in that marriage of weighty meaning and gentle sound: it carries the dignity of an ancient sacred name while feeling lyrical and unmistakably feminine. It offers a sophisticated, slightly old-world alternative to the more common English forms. Recorded variants include Makayla and Mikaela, which trade the Latinate spelling for more streamlined, contemporary American looks.
Micaela first entered the US Social Security top-1000 in 2000, which was also its strongest year at rank #609, and it remained in the rankings through 2010, when it appeared at #956. Along the way it stood at #965 in 2008 and #958 in 2006, and across that run it was given to about 2,878 girls. Its arc reflects the steady early-2000s popularity of Michael-derived names for girls — an elegant, heritage-rich choice.
Source: U.S. Social Security Administration name data, 1880–2024 (methodology). By Marvin Tang.
Quick Facts About Micaela
US Popularity History (2000–2010)
Annual US births named Micaela by gender, from US Social Security Administration records. Peak year: 2000 with 417 girls named Micaela (girl rank #609 that year).
Where it stands today: in 2010, ranked #956 for girls (268 US births). That's 347 places below its 2000 peak.
Source: US Social Security Administration. Limitations: US birth-certificate data only; names appearing fewer than 5 times in a given year are suppressed for privacy; spelling variants are counted separately. For names that ranked outside the US top 100 before year 2000, only the years they reached the top 100 are shown — the chart may have gaps for less-popular historical names.
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Where in the US Is Micaela Most Popular?
Average girl-name rank within each state across 2016–2025 SSA records. A lower number means the name appears closer to the top of that state's girls-name rankings — a per-capita measure that isn't biased toward large states. For Micaela the strongest states are Florida, New Jersey, Massachusetts.
Strongest girls-name states
| # | State | Avg rank | Births |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Florida | #621 | 252 |
| 2 | New Jersey | #714 | 91 |
| 3 | Massachusetts | #776 | 40 |
| 4 | Alabama | #799 | 18 |
| 5 | California | #839 | 351 |
| 6 | Arizona | #859 | 30 |
| 7 | Illinois | #890 | 37 |
| 8 | Texas | #893 | 300 |
| 9 | New York | #974 | 135 |
Weakest girls-name states
| # | State | Avg rank | Births |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | New York | #974 | 135 |
| 2 | Texas | #893 | 300 |
| 3 | Illinois | #890 | 37 |
| 4 | Arizona | #859 | 30 |
| 5 | California | #839 | 351 |
| 6 | Alabama | #799 | 18 |
| 7 | Massachusetts | #776 | 40 |
| 8 | New Jersey | #714 | 91 |
| 9 | Florida | #621 | 252 |
Source: SSA state-level baby-name dataset 2016–2025. States with fewer than 3 years of data for Micaela in this window are excluded. Births < 5 in a given state-year are suppressed by SSA for privacy.
Variant Forms
| Name | Meaning | Gender | Origin |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mikaela | Feminine Of Michael Gift From God. | Female | English |
Looking for names like Micaela?
A dedicated page with 60+ related names — spelling variants, rhymes, alliterations, same-origin matches, and shared meaning concepts — lives at its own URL so each kind of similarity gets a deeper treatment than fits here.
Compare Micaela to Other Popular Names
Side-by-side popularity charts and crossover years for Micaela against today's most popular girls-name peers (top 8 by US births in the last 10 years of SSA records).