Head to head · Girls' names
Edith vs Mae
#499 vs #500 in 2025 · both holding its place on the charts
Edith is a whisker ahead (#499 vs #500 in 2025) and both are holding its place on the charts. The records will not split these two — sound, story and your own last name will.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
The tale of the tape
On the charts, Edith leads 4 measures of 6; Mae leads 1.
Ranks, counts and years are measured in the official US birth record; the classroom and living figures are estimates computed from it. The dot marks the side each measure favours on the charts — more common, not better.
What the records say
146 years of US births, drawn on one scale
Two curves, one scale
Who owned which decade
- 1880s: Edith #29, Mae #65 — Edith higher
- 1890s: Edith #30, Mae #55 — Edith higher
- 1900s: Edith #32, Mae #58 — Edith higher
- 1910s: Edith #30, Mae #84 — Edith higher
- 1920s: Edith #42, Mae #116 — Edith higher
- 1930s: Edith #83, Mae #159 — Edith higher
- 1940s: Edith #124, Mae #228 — Edith higher
- 1950s: Edith #201, Mae #382 — Edith higher
- 1960s: Edith #308, Mae #723 — Edith higher
- 1970s: Edith #466, Mae #1354 — Edith higher
- 1980s: Edith #594, Mae #1868 — Edith higher
- 1990s: Edith #543, Mae #2157 — Edith higher
- 2000s: Edith #673, Mae #1324 — Edith higher
- 2010s: Edith #620, Mae #679 — Edith higher
- 2020s: Edith #501, Mae #520 — Edith higher
Edith stood higher in every recorded decade — 15 of 15.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Edith | Mae |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | #29 | #65 |
| 1890s | #30 | #55 |
| 1900s | #32 | #58 |
| 1910s | #30 | #84 |
| 1920s | #42 | #116 |
| 1930s | #83 | #159 |
| 1940s | #124 | #228 |
| 1950s | #201 | #382 |
| 1960s | #308 | #723 |
| 1970s | #466 | #1354 |
| 1980s | #594 | #1868 |
| 1990s | #543 | #2157 |
| 2000s | #673 | #1324 |
| 2010s | #620 | #679 |
| 2020s | #501 | #520 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
The names themselves
Meaning, roots, sound and the people who carried each
Where each name comes from
Edith
Prosperous in war
The Old English elements are ead, meaning wealth or fortune, and gyth, meaning strife or war. The first element also stands in Edward and Edmund; the pairing of good fortune with battle was standard and meant something like blessed in conflict.
Eadgyth → Edith
How it traveled
She was an English nurse running a hospital in occupied Brussels, and she treated wounded men from both sides and helped Allied soldiers reach the border. She was arrested, tried and sentenced, and to the chaplain the night before her execution she said that patriotism was not enough, and that she must have no hatred or bitterness toward anyone.
Mae
A pet form of Mary or Margaret
Mae is a variant of May, used as a short form of Mary and Margaret.
Mary → May → Mae
How it traveled
'; the tidier version came from audiences and impressionists. In 1992 Mae Jemison, a physician and engineer from Chicago, flew aboard the shuttle Endeavour and became the first Black woman in space.
Where a reading is contested the note says so — this page does not turn a guess into a fact. The chain is each name's recorded forms, oldest first; the story is its opening, told in full on the name's own page.
Out loud, and in short
Edith
EE-dith
Two syllables, stress at the front. The first vowel is long.
- Edie — The front with a soft ending, and the usual short form.
- Dita — Built from the back, and standard across central Europe.
Mae
MAY
One syllable.
- Maisie — A pet form, also a given name on its own.
Is it right for you
The differences that decide it, laid out by what you want
Choose by what you want
Choose Edith if you want…
- a name holding steadyEdith is holding its place on the charts
- a name with more sound in itEdith runs 2 syllables, Mae 1
- a name that ages quietlyan estimated 12% chance of feeling dated by 2040, against 40% for Mae
Choose Mae if you want…
- a name on the way upup 72 places on the charts in five years
- a name with fewer syllablesMae is 1 syllable to Edith's 2
- a name that feels very nowMae is holding its place on the charts
Each line is a measured difference between the two names — a rank, a count, a recorded form — never a judgement of either. Save the one that answers your question; it lands on your shortlist.
The trade-offs, name by name
Edith
Strengths
- The meaning is settled and takes apart cleanly into two words.
- It is read correctly on sight everywhere in Europe.
- It is genuinely old, with a continuous record behind it.
To consider
- It carries a strong period association that is only now lifting.
- Edythe and Edyth are both in the record nearby.
- The spelling is recorded for both sexes, though nearly every bearer in the record is a girl.
Mae
Strengths
- Short, bright and instantly familiar.
- A long, unbroken American history.
- Works well as a first or middle name.
To consider
- People will ask whether it is short for Mary.
- It is sometimes spelled May, and forms may correct it.
- For a boy it would be very unusual.
Documented properties of each name — how it spells, travels and shortens — not opinions about the child.
How each is likely to age
Edith
12%chance Edith feels dated by 2040
Edith has held the top-100 across 6 different decades — it has never depended on fashion, and names like that read the same at any age.
Mae
40%chance Mae feels dated by 2040
Mae sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A reading of where each name sits on the long naming cycle — computed, not measured, and explained on the data page.
With your last name
Say both in full. The notes are facts about letters and sound — a rhyme, a shared initial, the monogram — not a verdict on either name.
Type a last name to hear Edith and Mae in full.
Weighing the whole shortlist? Run the full comparison — up to eight names with your last name, initials, classroom projections and a printable report.
Decide together
Nobody names a baby alone
Still torn between Edith and Mae?
Put both to the vote.
One link to your partner, your parents, your sister. Each of them gets the two names, a one-tap answer and room to say why — and every reply lands in one place.
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More than two in the running? Settle it with a bracket or run the full comparison with your last name.
More head-to-heads
Same measures, different pair. Sixty more are dealt daily in the arena.
Lists that carry both names
Every list here names both Edith and Mae — the same style, ranked by the same records.
Edith or Mae — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Edith or Mae?
- Edith, in 2025: Edith ranked #499 with 595 babies; Mae ranked #500 with 594 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Edith or Mae?
- Mae. Over the last five years Edith moved down 27 places; Mae moved up 72 places.
- Which is the older name, Edith or Mae?
- The US record cannot say: both were already in use when it began in 1880.
- How many people are named Edith and Mae?
- About 69,000 people named Edith are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 28,000 people named Mae are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Ediths or Maes in the classroom?
- Edith will almost certainly be the only one in school. Mae will almost certainly be the only one in school.
US figures from the Social Security Administration, 1880–2025. Votes are battle voters on this site, not the birth record. Data & methodology
Keep playing
Sixty more head-to-heads are dealt in the arena every day — or line up Edith, Mae and the rest of your shortlist with your last name in one printable report.
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