Origin of Surname
This surname is derived from the personal name Michel.
It is a European medieval surname of Crusader, but ultimately biblical origins. Deriving from the ancient Hebrew name "Michael" meaning "He who is like god", it was introduced from the Holy Land by returning warriors from the various Crusades commencing in the 12th century and which continued for several centuries with minimal success. During the period of the Christian Revival at this time, the name rapidly became established as firstly one of the most popular baptismal names, and within a generation as one of the early surnames. Part of this popularity was due to the conviction that the name was originally the warcry of the archangel, in his defeat of Satan.
It was in England that the first recordings are to be found with Michaelis de Areci appearing in the Danelaw Rolls for the city of London, in 1160, although the first surname recording would seem to be in Scotland when Magister Michael appears in the register of Scone Abbey, in 1214. A notable early namebearer was Blaunpayn Michael, a Latin poet who flourished circa 1250, and was traditionally dean of Utrecht, in the Netherlands.
Early records
It appears in the Extente of 1331. The first baptism records in Jersey date back to 1596 but these other records survive for the following
- Jean Michel was born in St John in 1504 and married Guillemette Sarre
- Jeanne Michel (1566-1615) was the daughter of Henri (1529- ) of Grouville
Although the family had been established in Jersey several centuries earlier, the only tree we have been able to assemble dates back only to the early 19th century and an immigrant from France at that time. The tree stops with baptisms in the first decade of the 20th century and there is no link to families of living Michels. Online trees which cover the second half of the 20th century only go back a generation or two. We would welcome submissions of extended trees and any which cover the Michel line in Jersey before the 19th century
Variants
Found in Jersey records
- Michel, 1299
- Michell, 1528
- Michiel, 1331
- Michies 1331
- Mich 1461
- Miquiel 1331
- Michael 1299
Found elsewhere
- Miell, Miall, Michel, Micheau, and Micheu (France)
- Michele and Micheli (Italy)
- Miguel (Portugal and Spain)
- Miell and Michal (Poland)
- Michel (Hungary)
- Michelet, Michelin (France)
- Misisch and Miscke (Germany)
- Michalik and Mielnik (Poland)
- Michaley (Czech)
- Miko (Hungary)
- Patronymics such as Michaelson, Mikkelsen, Mikhalkov, Michaeliewicz
Family records
Family trees
Church records
- Michel baptisms in Jersey
- Michel marriages in Jersey (groom)
- Michel marriages in Jersey (bride)
- Michel burials in Jersey
Great War service
Family wills
Burial records
Family businesses
1953
Occupation curfew cards
Curfew pass issued to Hedley Michel during the Occupation as a member of the Honorary Police [1]
Family album
Click on any image to see the full-size version
Madeleine Michel and her mother
A later picture of Madeleine
Lilliane Yvonne Michel (1917-2007) (St H to Sydney)
Lilliane and brother Marcel outside their father, Yves Marie's (1880-1926) bakery at 20 Halkett Street in 1927
Frederick John Michel (1885-1940) (St P) with his Beaumont Dairy van in 1933 in St Aubin's High Street.
Gerald Ernest Michel (1912-1987), son of Fred, with the dairy's first bottled milk
Eugene Peter Michel (1889- ) and Maria Jane, nee du Feu (1883-1918) with daughter Kathleen in about 1910
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Family gravestones
Click on any image to see a larger version. See the Jerripedia gravestone image collection page for more information about our gravestone photographs
Les Quennevais cemetery
Les Quennevais cemetery
Les Quennevais cemetery
Les Quennevais cemetery
Trinity Church cemetery
St Mary’s Church cemetery
St Peter’s Church cemetery
St Peter’s Church cemetery
St Peter’s Church cemetery
St Peter’s Church cemetery
St Peter’s Church cemetery
St Peter’s Church cemetery
St Peter’s Church cemetery
St John’s Church cemetery
St John’s Church cemetery
St Ouen parish cemetery
St Ouen parish cemetery
St Ouen parish cemetery
St Peter parish cemetery
St Peter parish cemetery
St Peter parish cemetery
St Peter parish cemetery
St Peter parish cemetery
St Peter parish cemetery
St Peter parish cemetery
St Brelade Church cemetery
St Brelade Church cemetery
St Brelade Church cemetery
Surville Cemetery
Surville Cemetery
St Matthew’s, St Lawrence
St Lawrence
St Lawrence
St Lawrence
St Lawrence
Great War casualty John Michel's grave at Ramleh War Cemetery, Israel
Great War casualty Philip Michel's grave at Canadian Cemetery No 2 Neuville St Vaast
Great War casualty John Francis Michel's grave at Wimereux Communal Cemetery, Pas de Calais
Tips
The church record links above will open in a new tab in your browser and generate the most up-to-date list of each set of records from our database. These lists replace earlier Family page baptism lists, which were not regularly updated. They have the added advantage that they produce a chronological listing for the family name in all parishes, so you do not have to search through A-Z indexes, parish by parish.
We have included some important spelling variants on some family pages, but it may be worth searching for records for a different spelling variant. Think of searching for variants with or without a prefix, such as Le or De. To search for further variants, or for any other family name, just click on the appropriate link below for the first letter of the family name, and a new tab will open, giving you the option to choose baptism, marriage or burial records. You will then see a list of available names for that type of record and you can select any name from that list. That will display all records of the chosen type for that family name, and you can narrow the search by adding a given name, selecting a parish or setting start and end dates in the form you will see above. You can also change the family name, or search for a partial name if you are not certain of the spelling
The records are displayed 30 to a page, but by selecting the yellow Wiki Table option at the top left of the page you can open a full, scrollable list. This list will either be displayed in a new tab or a pop-up window. You may have to edit the settings of your browser to allow pop-up windows for www.jerripediabmd.net. For the small number of family names for which a search generates more than 1,500 records you will have to refine your search (perhaps using start or end dates) to reduce the number of records found.
New records
Since August 2020 we have added several thousand new records from the registers of Roman Catholic, Methodist and other non-conformist churches. These will appear in date order within a general search of the records and are also individually searchable within the database search form
A--B--C--D--E--F--G--H--I--J--K--L--M--N--O--P--Q--R--S--T--U--V--W--X--Y--Z
Notes and references
- ↑ These cards are held by Jersey Archive. Visit The Archive online catalogue for more information. A subscription may be needed to view some of the site's content
