Khmelnytsky was probably born in the village of Subotiv, near Chyhyryn in the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland at the estate of his father Mykhailo Khmelnytsky. He was born into the Ukrainian lesser nobility. His father was a courtier of Great Crown Hetman Stanisław Żółkiewski, but later joined court of his son-in-law Jan Daniłowicz, who in 1597 became starosta of Korsuń and Chyhyryn and appointed Mykhailo as his deputy in Chyhyryn (podstarosta). For his service, he was granted a strip of land near the town, where Mykhailo set up a khutor Subotiv.