Michels History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Etymology of Michels

What does the name Michels mean?

The distinguished surname Michels is one of the many names that first came to England in the wake of the Norman Conquest of 1066. The name is derived from the given name “Michel,” meaning “who is like God.” 1 One source notes of another possible origin: “Anglo-Saxon mycel, great, or mickle, would be a tolerably satisfactory etymon, and this may in some instances be the origin of the surname; but I think in most cases it is derived from Michael, a very popular baptismal name in many countries, through its French form, Michel.” 2

Early Origins of the Michels family

The surname Michels was first found in many places throughout ancient Britain. As if to underscore this claim, the following entries were found in the Hundredorum Rolls of 1273: Hugh filius Micahel in Lincolnshire; Roger Michel in Norfolk; and as a forename, Mikael de Brackele in London. Years later, the Yorkshire Poll Tax Rolls of 1379 listed the following: Johannes Michelson; Thomas Michilson and Adam Michelson. 3

Michele Michael was listed in the Subsidy Rolls for Somerset in 1327. Michel de Whepstede was recorded in Punchbeck, Suffolk in 1327. The Curia Regis Rolls for Northumberland listed Gilbert Michel in 1205, while the same rolls for Somerset recorded Robert Michel in Somerset in 1219. 4

“In 1198 Michael de Middelton’ held a quarter of a carucate in Middleton, Wiltshire by service of keeping the king’s wolf-hounds (Fees). About 1219 William Michel received per day for keeping two wolf-hounds and in 1236 Richard Michel held a cotset in Middleton for a similar service. The relationship between the three men is not stated but it appears a reasonable assumption that they were of the same family and that Michaelde Middleton had two sons who derived their surname Michel from their father’s Christian name.” 4

The name was “distributed over England, but far more frequent in the south. Its home, par excellence, is in the county of Cornwall, where in nearly half the instances it is written Michell, though the pronunciation is the same. Its other homes are in Sussex, Wilts, and in the West Riding. Its prevalence in Cornwall is due to the fact that several parishes and places in the county bear the name of St. Michael in one form or another.” 5

In Devon, Thomas Mitchell was Warden of St Mary’s College, Ottery St Mary in 1511.