Mae
Masculine · “A pet form of Mary or Margaret”
Mae is given to girls far more often — 114,835 girls against 606 boys since 1880. See Mae as a girl name
Mae is a pet form of Mary and Margaret that stood on its own when American records began and has been coming back into favor. Two very different Maes made it famous: a comedian famous for a line she never quite said, and a doctor who flew on the space shuttle.
How old is the name Mae?
Mae first appears in US birth records in 1885 — 140 years ago. The typical Mae alive today was born around 1928, making them about 97 years old. Fewer than a hundred people named Mae are estimated to be alive in the US today — a true one-of-a-kind name.
When was the name Mae most popular?
Mae peaked in 1909, reaching #756 nationally. See the whole 1909 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Mary to Mae
The story of Mae
Mae West, the stage and film star of the 1930s, is remembered for 'Come up and see me sometime', but in She Done Him Wrong she actually said 'Why don't you come up sometime and see me?'; 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. Mae has been given to girls throughout the American record; the spelling is recorded for a handful of boys, but it is a girl's name in every tradition behind it.
Meaning
A pet form of Mary or Margaret
Mae is a variant of May, used as a short form of Mary and Margaret.
How the name formed
- Mary
- May
- Mae
Related forms: May · Mary
Pronouncing Mae
MAY
One syllable.
Nicknames for Mae
Limited
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1885
- Most boys named
- 192818 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #756reached in 1909
- Change vs 1958
- −16.7%5 in 2023, from 6
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Mae in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- May in English — spelling variant
- Mary in English — related form
Maes among us
Fewer than a hundred people named Mae are estimated to be alive in the US today — a true one-of-a-kind name.
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
Questions parents actually ask
Fashion outlook
Mae sits outside the current charts, and that is its own kind of answer: naming cycles can only date the names they carried up. A name this rare has no decade stamped on it — it cannot go out of fashion, because it was never in.
Based on 146 years of naming cycles. How we read them
The trade-off
- Short, bright and instantly familiar.
- A long, unbroken American history.
- Works well as a first or middle name.
- 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.
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What they receive
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Mae
Masculine
Frequently asked
- How many Maes are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. Fewer than a hundred people named Mae are estimated to be alive in the US today — a true one-of-a-kind name.
- How popular is the name Mae in 2025?
- Mae is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 boy names.
- Will my child share the name Mae with classmates?
- Mae will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More M names
The most-given names starting with M, all years combined.
Michael#21 · Matthew#32 · Mark#244 · Mason#39 · Martin#335 · Marvin#699 · Melvin#958 · Marcus#258
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Mae? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Mae and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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