Head to head · Girls' names
Maisie vs Palmer
#233 vs #232 in 2025 · both climbing the charts fast
Palmer is a whisker ahead (#232 vs #233 in 2025) and both are climbing the charts fast. 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
The tape is even: Maisie and Palmer each lead 3 measures of 6.
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
- 1890s: Maisie #1267, Palmer — — Maisie higher
- 1900s: Maisie #1536, Palmer #1676 — Maisie higher
- 1910s: Maisie #1784, Palmer #3310 — Maisie higher
- 1920s: Maisie #1611, Palmer #3779 — Maisie higher
- 1930s: Maisie #2821, Palmer #3742 — Maisie higher
- 1940s: Maisie #4065, Palmer #4017 — Palmer higher
- 1950s: Maisie #5313, Palmer #4829 — Palmer higher
- 1960s: Maisie #6390, Palmer #5777 — Palmer higher
- 1970s: Maisie #5310, Palmer — — Maisie higher
- 1980s: Maisie #5122, Palmer #10174 — Maisie higher
- 1990s: Maisie #2364, Palmer #10582 — Maisie higher
- 2000s: Maisie #1800, Palmer #9192 — Maisie higher
- 2010s: Maisie #911, Palmer #2048 — Maisie higher
- 2020s: Maisie #324, Palmer #290 — Palmer higher
Maisie stood higher in 10 of 14 decades; Palmer took the 2020s.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Maisie | Palmer |
|---|---|---|
| 1890s | #1267 | — |
| 1900s | #1536 | #1676 |
| 1910s | #1784 | #3310 |
| 1920s | #1611 | #3779 |
| 1930s | #2821 | #3742 |
| 1940s | #4065 | #4017 |
| 1950s | #5313 | #4829 |
| 1960s | #6390 | #5777 |
| 1970s | #5310 | — |
| 1980s | #5122 | #10174 |
| 1990s | #2364 | #10582 |
| 2000s | #1800 | #9192 |
| 2010s | #911 | #2048 |
| 2020s | #324 | #290 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
Around the world
Maisie
- Scotland#11
- England & Wales#44
Palmer
Not charting outside the US.
National statistics offices, latest published year.
The names themselves
Meaning, roots, sound and the people who carried each
Where each name comes from
Maisie
pearl
Maisie inherits its meaning from Margaret, which comes from Greek margarites, 'pearl'. The nickname itself was never a word — it grew out of Mairead, the Gaelic form of Margaret, worn down in ordinary speech.
Margarites → Margaret → Mairead → Maisie
How it traveled
Margaret traveled far and wide in medieval Europe and picked up dozens of household forms; in Scotland and the Gaelic-speaking west it became Mairead, and from Mairead came Maisie and its older Scots cousin Mysie. For centuries it lived as a spoken pet name rather than a christening name, the sort of thing written in letters and not in registers.
Palmer
pilgrim — one who returned from the Holy Land with a palm branch
From Middle English palmere, via Anglo-Norman from Latin palmarius, on palma, "palm." The palm frond was the token a returning pilgrim wore or carried.
palma (Latin, "palm") → palmarius → palmere (Middle English, "pilgrim") → Palmer (English surname) → Palmer (given name)
How it traveled
In medieval England a palmer was a particular kind of pilgrim: not merely someone who had gone on a journey, but someone back from Jerusalem, identifiable by the palm he brought with him. The word hardened into a byname and then into one of the ordinary English surnames, carried to North America with countless others and settled widely there.
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
Maisie
MAY-zee
The s sounds like a z. Occasionally read as MAY-see by people who have only seen it written; one correction usually settles it.
- Maise — Clipped spoken form; almost never written down.
- Mais — One-syllable version used within families rather than formally.
- Margaret — Not a nickname but the formal name behind it — some parents register Margaret and use Maisie every day, which gives a longer option later.
Palmer
PAHL-mer
Many American speakers drop the l, exactly as in the word palm, giving PAH-mer. Both are standard and no one will correct you.
- Palmer — Overwhelmingly used in full; the name is short enough that most families never shorten it at all.
- Pal — An informal family clipping rather than an established short form; it doubles as an ordinary English word.
- Palmie — Affectionate, used at home and by younger children; rarely written down.
- P — Initial-only nickname, common in classrooms and on sports teams.
Who has carried each name
Maisie
Maisie Williams (b. 1997) — Game of Thrones' Arya Stark
Palmer
No documented entry for Palmer yet.
Source: Wikidata — the one source on this page that is not an official agency.
Is it right for you
The differences that decide it, laid out by what you want
Choose by what you want
Choose Maisie if you want…
- a name on the way upup 177 places on the charts in five years
- a name that charts abroad tooMaisie is on the national lists of Scotland and England & Wales
Choose Palmer if you want…
On the measures here, the records do not separate Palmer from Maisie.
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
Maisie
Strengths
- Short, spelled the way it sounds once the z-sound is known, and easy for a small child to say and write.
- Sits on top of Margaret, so it can honor a Margaret in the family while sounding nothing like her.
- In continuous use in Britain, so it is familiar rather than invented — a known name on both sides of the Atlantic.
To consider
- Maisy, Maizie and Mazie all exist, and one of them belongs to a very well-known picture-book mouse. Expect to spell it out fairly often.
- It is a diminutive by origin and stays informal in tone; there is no built-in longer version unless you register Margaret and use Maisie in daily life.
- The American wave is very recent, so most Maisies here are young children — there are few adult namesakes to point to yet, though Britain has had them for generations.
Palmer
Strengths
- A spelling everyone already knows from the ordinary English surname, so it is written correctly the first time.
- One clear stress pattern and two syllables — easy to say, easy for a small child to learn to write.
- A documented word history running back through Middle English to Latin, with a settled meaning parents can state.
To consider
- It is on a real upward climb right now. A child named Palmer today will very likely be the only one in the class, but may well meet others by the time she or he finishes school.
- The spelling goes to both girls and boys, with boys the smaller share. Expect occasional mix-ups on paperwork and forms that guess wrong — nothing worse, but worth knowing in advance.
- Almost nothing shortens from it, so a child who wants a nickname will have to borrow one from a middle name.
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 Maisie and Palmer 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 Maisie and Palmer?
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 these names appear on
- Scottish heritage names with highland spirit
- Cute and cozy names that stay small
- Names ending in -ie
- Borrowed from the boys: names girls are winning
- all guides
Where Maisie and Palmer each sit in the library — alternatives in the same style, ranked by the same records.
Maisie or Palmer — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Maisie or Palmer?
- Palmer, in 2025: Palmer ranked #232 with 1,330 babies; Maisie ranked #233 with 1,328 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Maisie or Palmer?
- Maisie. Over the last five years Maisie moved up 177 places; Palmer moved up 116 places.
- Which is the older name, Maisie or Palmer?
- Maisie entered the US charts in 1890; Palmer entered the US charts in 1908. On the American record, Maisie is the older name.
- How many people are named Maisie and Palmer?
- About 12,000 people named Maisie are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 9,200 people named Palmer are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Maisies or Palmers in the classroom?
- Maisie will almost certainly be the only one in school. Palmer will almost certainly be the only one in school.
US figures from the Social Security Administration, 1880–2025; international figures from national statistics agencies. 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 Maisie, Palmer and the rest of your shortlist with your last name in one printable report.
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