The Name Michael Hartley


Meaning

The name Michael comes from the Bible. The meaning of the name is a question: "Who is like God?", the answer being, no-one. There are 11 Michael's in the Bible, mostly very minor characters. See below for more information.

The name Hartley means a deer (hart) in the shelter (lee). It's an English surname, and dates back to at least the 13th century, but beyond that, I don't know much about the history of the name.

Other Michael Hartleys

Wikipedia has comprehensive lists of famous Michaels and Hartleys. This section has links to other Michael Hartley's with a web presence, in no particular order.
  • Mike Hartley works in mental health, in the USA. I wasn't sure whether to be worried when I realised a mental health worker had been carefully poring over my site.
  • Michael J Hartley won an entrepreneurship award for his company Cheap Tickets Inc in 2000. In 2001, it was sold, so I guess he's made his pile.
  • Michael W Hartley is a Texas Lawyer, admitted to the bar in 1979.
  • Michael Hartley is Director of Outreach for an Ohio congresswoman.
  • Michael Hartley is - or was - an architecture student at the Royal College of Art, UK.
  • Another lawyer, Michael J Hartley, specialises in intellectual property litigation for Senniger.
You may also like to look up the mathematician Michael Hartley Freedman, where the Hartley appears not as a surname, but as a given middle name. He's a famous mathematician, working at Microsoft.

Common Mis-spellings of my name

  • Micheal is the most common way for people to mis-spell my given name.
  • I've seen my surname spelt Heartley and Heartly. At least one of these people assured me it was deliberate.
  • On the other hand, Heatley is a bit more unusual.
  • Once, in India, my first name was spelt Miacel. Well, I suppose it's not obvious how to spell my name from the pronunciation.
  • My middle name is Ian. In 10 years in Malaysia, Ian has become Tan three times.
    • When I first arrived, the tax taken out of my salary went into an account under the name of Michael Tan Hartley. This took three or four years to sort out.
    • Once, I ordered flowers for my wife online (that is, I ordered them online. The flowers and the wife were both offline). When they arrived (the flowers, I mean) the card read "From your beloved husband, Michael Tan".
    • Most recently, my hotel booking got recorded under the name Michael Hartley Tan. Read more about that here.

Michaels in the Bible

  • In Numbers 13:13, Michael is the father of one of the 12 spies sent to explore the land of Canaan.
  • In 1 Chronicles 5:13, we are told that Michael is one of the relatives of the chiefs of the Gadites.
  • This Michael is apparently descended from another Michael, introduced in 1 Chronicles 5:14
  • Another Michael, found in 1 Chronicles 6:40, is the great-grandfather of Asaph, who wrote some of the Psalms.
  • 1 Chronicles 7:3 tells us that Issachar (one of Jacob's 12 sons) had a great great grandson called Michael.
  • 1 Chronicles 8:16 mentions a descendant of Benjamin, also called Michael.
  • When David ran to Ziklag to escape king Saul (see 1 Chronicles 12:20), one of the men who came with him was called Michael.
  • 1 Chronicles 27:18 notes that during the reign of king David, the leader of Issachar was a man called Omri, whose father was Michael.
  • Jehoshaphat, a king of Judah, had a son called Michael, mentioned in 2 Chronicles 21.
  • When Ezra left Babylon to return to Jerusalem, a man called Zebadiah left his father Michael to follow him (Ezra 8:8)
  • The most significant Michael in the Bible is not a human, but an archangel. An angel reported to Daniel (Daniel 10:13,21) that another angel, called Michael, had been helping him fight the "prince of the Persian kingdom". In Daniel 12:1 we discover that this angel will arise and help the Jews (Daniel's people) in the last days. Jude 1:9 notes this angel disputed with Satan over the body of Moses. And in Revelations 12:7, the same angel is noted as fighting a war against Satan.