Micah
MY-kah
The name Micah is the English form of the Hebrew Mikhah, itself a contraction of Mikhayahu, a rhetorical question meaning “who is like YHWH?” The name belongs to a family of theophoric Hebrew names (Michael, Mikael, Micaiah) built on the same
elements: the interrogative mi (“who”), the comparative k- (“like”), and the divine name Yah.
The form is grammatically a creed compressed into a single word.
What the name Micah means
The Hebrew Bible records several bearers, the most prominent being Micah of Moresheth, one of the twelve minor prophets, active in Judah during the late eighth century BCE.
His prophetic book contains the celebrated verse Micah 6:8, “to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God”, quoted by Jimmy Carter in his 1977 presidential inaugural address.
The prophet”s tomb at Moresheth Gath was a pilgrimage site in late antiquity. The Book of Judges also features a Micah whose private shrine sets the scene for the migration of the tribe of Dan.
The name was rare in medieval Europe, used chiefly by Hebraists and Puritan reformers. It came to colonial America with English dissenters in the seventeenth century and has since been embraced as a quietly distinctive biblical choice.
In contemporary culture Micah is the central character of the video game Red Dead Redemption 2 (2018), and Micah Sanders is a key figure in the NBC series Heroes (2006).
According to US Social Security Administration records, Micah appeared sporadically in the boys top 1000 in the late nineteenth century, vanished, and re-entered permanently in 1956.
The climb has been gradual but unbroken: rank 500 by 1980, top 200 by 2000, and position 106 in 2023. The name is particularly popular in Utah, Idaho and the rural Bible Belt, with strong use among Mormon and Evangelical families.
Contemporary bearers include American basketball player Micah Potter and British actor Micah Balfour.
US popularity over time
Numerology and symbolism
Based on Pythagorean numerology — a traditional system linking name letters to numbers. Presented for cultural interest.
Famous people named Micah
Micah - similar names
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