In this cartouche we have enclosed the hieroglyphs that spell out the sounds of the name 'Michael'. Note that although there are seven letters in the name 'Michael', there are only four basic sounds 'M - I - K - L'. Therefore we only need to use the hieroglyphs that represent those sounds. A more detailed explanation of this translation process is given on our Hieroglyphic Alphabet pages.

For over 5,000 years, people in Egypt used hieroglyphs to write their language. For most of that time, a scribe would have to learn about 500 signs in order to be able to read and write well. Most ordinary people didn't know how to read or write, though they might be able to read and write their own names, or recognize the names of their kings, which were surrounded by a loop that we call a cartouche.




Egyptian Name Generator Hieroglyphs