Michelson is a patronymic surname meaning "son of Michel". The prefix Michel-, a variant of Michael, comes from the Hebrew: מִיכָאֵל / מיכאל (mee-KHA-el), meaning "Who is like God?". A common English language surname, there are other English and Scandinavian spellings. It is rare as a given name. People with the name Michelson include:
- Albert Abraham Michelson (1852–1931), American physicist, first U.S. citizen to win a Nobel Prize in science
- Frida Michelson (1906–1982), Latvian jew, Holocaust survivor, writer
- Gary K. Michelson (born 1949), American orthopedic spinal surgeon and inventor
- Harold Michelson (1920–2007), American illustrator
- Leo Michelson (1887–1978), Latvian-American artist
- Lisa Michelson (1958–1991), American actress
- Peter Michelson, American physicist
- Richard Michelson (born 1953), American writer and poet
- Robert C. Michelson (born 1951), American researcher, progenitor of the field of aerial robotics
- Truman Michelson (1879–1938), American Indo-Europeanist
- Ivan Ivanovich Michelson (1740–1807) Baltic-German military commander, general in the Russian Imperial Army