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 (more specifically an avonymic), or an earlier male ancestor. It is the male equivalent of a matronymic. Patronymics are used, b ...

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

Michael Michael may refer to: People * Michael (given name), a given name * he He ..., a given name * Michael (surname), including a list of people with the surname Michael Given name * Michael (bishop elect)">Michael (surname)">he He ..., a given nam ...

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

English language English is a West Germanic language that developed in early medieval England and has since become a English as a lingua franca, global lingua franca. The namesake of the language is the Angles (tribe), Angles, one of the Germanic peoples th ...

surname, there are other English and

Scandinavia Scandinavia is a subregion#Europe, subregion of northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. It can sometimes also ...

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 f ...

. People with the name Michelson include: *

Albert Abraham Michelson Albert Abraham Michelson ( ; December 19, 1852 – May 9, 1931) was an American physicist known for his work on measuring the speed of light and especially for the Michelson–Morley experiment. In 1907, he received the Nobel Prize in Physics, ...

(1852–1931), American physicist, first U.S. citizen to win a Nobel Prize in science *

Frida Michelson Frida Michelson (, née Fride; 1906–1982) was a Latvian Jew and Holocaust survivor. She is known for her memoirs “I survived Rumbula” which records the Holocaust in Latvia, her life in the Riga Ghetto and how she managed to survive the m ...

(1906–1982), Latvian jew, Holocaust survivor, writer * Gary K. Michelson (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 native ...

(1920–2007), American illustrator *

Ivan Ivanovich Michelson Johann von Michelsohnen (also Mikhelson or Michelson; ; – ) was a Baltic German military commander who served in the Imperial Russian Army. He was a prominent general in several wars, but his most noted contribution was his critical role in sup ...

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

Leo Michelson Leo Michelson (; 12 May 1887 – 10 April 1978) was a Latvian-American artist considered part of the École de Paris, although his works span many periods and styles. Biography Michelson was born in Riga, Latvia. He attended the Imperial Acade ...

(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 dub ...

(1958–1991), American actress *

Peter Michelson Peter F. Michelson is an American physicist who focuses on high energy astrophysics, particularly X-ray and gamma-ray observations and instrument development. He is currently the Luke Blossom Professor in the School of Humanities and Sciences at S ...

, American physicist *

Richard Michelson Richard Michelson (born July 3, 1953) is a poet and a children's book author. In January 2009, ''As Good As Anybody: Martin Luther King and Abraham Joshua Heschel's Amazing March Toward Freedom,'' was awarded the Sydney Taylor Book Award Gold Med ...

(born 1953), American writer and poet *

Robert C. Michelson Robert C. Michelson (born 1951) is an American engineer and academic who invented the entomopter, a Biomimicry, biologically inspired flapping-winged aerial robot, and who established the International Aerial Robotics Competition. Michelson's ca ...

(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

See also