Head to head · Girls' names
Macie vs Maia
#438 vs #433 in 2025
Maia is a whisker ahead (#433 vs #438 in 2025), but the curves point different ways: Maia is holding its place on the charts, Macie is climbing the charts fast. On momentum, Macie has the edge.
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, Macie leads 4 measures of 6; Maia leads 2.
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: Macie #883, Maia — — Macie higher
- 1890s: Macie #749, Maia — — Macie higher
- 1900s: Macie #675, Maia — — Macie higher
- 1910s: Macie #724, Maia — — Macie higher
- 1920s: Macie #909, Maia — — Macie higher
- 1930s: Macie #1174, Maia — — Macie higher
- 1940s: Macie #1960, Maia — — Macie higher
- 1950s: Macie #3267, Maia #4921 — Macie higher
- 1960s: Macie #4445, Maia #2821 — Maia higher
- 1970s: Macie #4152, Maia #1560 — Maia higher
- 1980s: Macie #3595, Maia #1682 — Maia higher
- 1990s: Macie #895, Maia #1106 — Macie higher
- 2000s: Macie #458, Maia #567 — Macie higher
- 2010s: Macie #426, Maia #592 — Macie higher
- 2020s: Macie #495, Maia #451 — Maia higher
Macie stood higher in 11 of 15 decades; Maia took the 2020s.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Macie | Maia |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | #883 | — |
| 1890s | #749 | — |
| 1900s | #675 | — |
| 1910s | #724 | — |
| 1920s | #909 | — |
| 1930s | #1174 | — |
| 1940s | #1960 | — |
| 1950s | #3267 | #4921 |
| 1960s | #4445 | #2821 |
| 1970s | #4152 | #1560 |
| 1980s | #3595 | #1682 |
| 1990s | #895 | #1106 |
| 2000s | #458 | #567 |
| 2010s | #426 | #592 |
| 2020s | #495 | #451 |
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
Macie
Either "from Macy" (a place in Normandy) or a medieval pet form of Matthew, "gift of God"
Macy the surname has two respectable origins that scholars have never fully separated. One traces it to Norman place names such as Macy and Massy, built on the Gallo-Roman personal name Maccius. The other traces it to Mace, an English short form of Mahieu — the Norman French version of Matthew, from Hebrew Mattityahu, "gift of God." Both roads end at the same surname, and the given name inherits both.
Mace → Macey → Macy → Macie
How it traveled
The name arrived in English as a surname carried by Norman families after the Conquest, spelled Macy, Macey and Massey among others, and it stayed a surname for centuries. American parents began borrowing surnames as girls' first names in earnest in the twentieth century, and Macy joined that group; Macie is the respelling that makes the pronunciation obvious on paper.
Maia
mother, nurse, midwife (Greek); also linked to growth and the month of May
In ancient Greek, maia was a respectful word for a mother, nurse or midwife, and that is the reading behind the mythological Maia of the Pleiades. Roman tradition attached the name to the month of Maius and to a goddess of growth, tying it to the Latin root for increase. A third road matters in American use: the spelling Maia often stands in for Maya, which has its own separate sources — Sanskrit maya and a Hebrew name connected with water. Same four sounds, different family trees.
Μαῖα (Greek) → Maia (Latin) → Maja → Maia
How it traveled
The name is first securely Greek: Μαῖα, borne by the eldest of the Pleiades, and used in ordinary speech as a courteous term for a nurse or mother. Latin took it up as Maia, where Roman writers such as Ovid linked it to the month of Maius and to a goddess associated with growing things.
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
Macie
MAY-see
Stress on the first syllable. The -ie ending signals the see sound clearly, which is much of why this spelling exists.
- Mace — The oldest layer of the name itself, used informally; also stands alone as a surname-style name.
- Mae — Informal, drawn from the first syllable; a long-established given name in its own right.
- Macie Mae — A double-name pairing in real use, especially in the American South.
Maia
MY-ah
MY-ah is the usual American reading. MAY-ah is also heard, closer to the Latin and to the month of May, and both are correct — which does mean the name will occasionally be said the other way and need a gentle correction.
- Mai — The most natural clipping; used informally, and a standalone given name in several Asian languages.
- May — Informal, and an established given name in its own right in English.
- Mae — Same sound as May, spelled the American way; also common as a middle name.
- Maimai — A reduplicated family nickname of the kind small children get, rarely used past childhood.
One short form, two names
- Macie and Maia both shorten to Mae.
Short forms as recorded on each name’s own page. This is here so it is a decision rather than a discovery.
Is it right for you
The differences that decide it, laid out by what you want
Choose by what you want
Choose Macie if you want…
- a name on the way upup 91 places on the charts in five years
Choose Maia if you want…
- a name holding steadyMaia 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
Macie
Strengths
- Spelled the way it sounds — an American reader gets MAY-see right on the first try, with no coaching.
- Two short syllables, easy to call across a yard and easy for a small child to say and write.
- On record in the United States for well over a century, so it is a new-feeling spelling with old roots behind it.
To consider
- Macy, Maci, Macey and Macie all circulate, and none of them is the default. Anyone with this name will spend a lifetime saying "with an i-e at the end," and will get the other spellings on mail and coffee cups.
- Macy's, the department store, is known everywhere in the United States. The spellings differ, but the sound does not, and the association will come up.
- Nearly everyone carrying this spelling is a child or teenager, so it reads as distinctly contemporary rather than as a name passed down. That may be exactly the point, or worth a second thought.
Maia
Strengths
- Short, phonetic and easy to write early: four letters, no silent parts, no double consonants.
- A documented record stretching from ancient Greek through Latin into modern European use — nothing about it is newly minted.
- Works in several languages with only a change of spelling: Maja, Майя, Maia.
To consider
- The Maya spelling is far better known in the US, so Maia will be written the other way often — on forms, in emails, on birthday cards. Most people with this spelling settle into a habit of saying "Maia, with an i" for life.
- Two live pronunciations, MY-ah and MAY-ah, means she may hear both from teachers and new acquaintances until she corrects them.
- There is also crossover with Mia and Maria in ordinary conversation, since all three share their opening sounds; expect the occasional mishearing over the phone.
Documented properties of each name — how it spells, travels and shortens — not opinions about the child.
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 Macie and Maia 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 Macie and Maia?
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 head-to-heads
Same measures, different pair. Sixty more are dealt daily in the arena.
Lists these names appear on
- Quiet perennials: a century old, never popular
- Names far more common than their rank admits
- Goddess and muse names
- all guides
Where Macie and Maia each sit in the library — alternatives in the same style, ranked by the same records.
Macie or Maia — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Macie or Maia?
- Maia, in 2025: Maia ranked #433 with 715 babies; Macie ranked #438 with 703 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Macie or Maia?
- Macie. Over the last five years Macie moved up 91 places; Maia moved up 64 places.
- Which is the older name, Macie or Maia?
- Macie entered the US charts in 1882; Maia entered the US charts in 1950. On the American record, Macie is the older name.
- How many people are named Macie and Maia?
- About 21,000 people named Macie are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 18,000 people named Maia are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Do Macie and Maia share a nickname?
- Yes — both shorten to Mae, so in a house with both names the short form would not say which child is meant.
US figures from the Social Security Administration, 1880–2025. Votes are battle voters on this site, not the birth record. Data & methodology
Keep playing
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