Michelson is a

patronymic A patronymic, or patronym, is a component of a personal name based on the given name of one's father, grandfather (avonymic), or an earlier male ancestor. Patronymics are still in use, including mandatory use, in many countries worldwide, alt ...

surname meaning "son of Michel". The prefix ''Michel''-, a variant of

Michael Michael may refer to: People * Michael (given name), a given name * Michael (surname), including a list of people with the surname Michael Given name "Michael" * Michael (archangel), ''first'' of God's archangels in the Jewish, Christian an ...

, comes from the he, מִיכָאֵל / מיכאל (mee-KHA-el), meaning "Who is like God?". A common

English language English is a West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family, with its earliest forms spoken by the inhabitants of early medieval England. It is named after the Angles, one of the ancient Germanic peoples that migrated to the is ...

surname, there are other English and

Scandinavia Scandinavia; Sámi languages: /. ( ) is a subregion#Europe, subregion in Northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. In English usage, ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, ...

n spellings. It is rare as a

given name A given name (also known as a forename or first name) is the part of a personal name quoted in that identifies a person, potentially with a middle name as well, and differentiates that person from the other members of a group (typically a fa ...

. People with the name Michelson include: *

Albert Abraham Michelson Albert Abraham Michelson FFRS HFRSE (surname pronunciation anglicized as "Michael-son", December 19, 1852 – May 9, 1931) was a German-born American physicist of Polish/Jewish origin, known for his work on measuring the speed of light and espe ...

(1852-1931), American physicist, first U.S. citizen to win a

Nobel Prize The Nobel Prizes ( ; sv, Nobelpriset ; no, Nobelprisen ) are five separate prizes that, according to Alfred Nobel's will of 1895, are awarded to "those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind." Alfr ...

in science *

Gary K. Michelson Gary K. Michelson (born January 14, 1949) is an American orthopedic surgeon, medical inventor, and billionaire philanthropist. Early life and education Michelson and his three brothers were raised in Philadelphia by his mother and grandmother, who ...

(born 1949), American orthopedic spinal surgeon and inventor *

Harold Michelson Harold Michelson (February 15, 1920 – March 1, 2007) was an American production designer and art director. In addition, he worked as an illustrator and/or storyboard artist on numerous films from the 1940s through the 1990s. Biography A nati ...

(1920-2007), American illustrator * Leo Michelson (1887-1978), Latvian-American artist *

Lisa Michelson Lisa Paulette Michelson (March 31, 1958 – September 14, 1991) was an American voice actress. She was best known for providing the voices of Satsuki Kusakabe in the Streamline Pictures dub of ''My Neighbor Totoro'' and Kiki in the Streamline d ...

(1958-1991), American actress * Peter Michelson, American physicist * Richard Michelson (born 1953), American writer and poet *

Robert C. Michelson Robert C. Michelson (born 1951) is an American engineer and academic widely known for inventing the entomopter, a biologically inspired flapping-winged aerial robot, and for having established the International Aerial Robotics Competition. He ha ...

(born 1951), American researcher, progenitor of the field of aerial robotics *

Truman Michelson Truman Michelson (August 11, 1879 – July 26, 1938) was a linguist and anthropologist who worked from 1910 until his death for the Bureau of American Ethnology at the Smithsonian Institution. He also held a position as ethnologist at George Was ...

(1879–1938), American Indo-Europeanist *

Ivan Ivanovich Michelson Johann von Michelsohnen (russian: Ива́н Ива́нович Михельсо́н, tr. ; 3 May 1740 – 17 August 1807) was a Baltic-German military commander who served in the Imperial Russian Army. He was a prominent general in several wars, ...

(1740-1807) Baltic-German military commander, general in the Russian Imperial Army

See also