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Maelee

Feminine · “May”

1970high 2024
#2298 in the U.S.given to only a few children a year
rare79 girls in 2025

Maelee joins Mae to Lee — a Roman goddess of growth and an Old English clearing, joined in America.

How old is the name Maelee?

Maelee first appears in US birth records in 1970 — 55 years ago. The typical Maelee is a kid of about 10 — this name's wave is very recent. About 1,600 people named Maelee are estimated to be alive in the US today.

When was the name Maelee most popular?

Maelee peaked in 2024, reaching #2067 nationally. Today it ranks #2298, 231 places below that high. See the whole 2024 chart.

Compare this nameMore “M” names

Lists built from the same records:

I

Where it comes from

The story of Maelee

Maia was a Roman goddess of growth to whom the month of May was dedicated; Ovid gives her as one explanation for its name. Leah is the commonest element in English place names. American families joined the two, and Maelee appears in the registers in current use.

Meaningscholars disagree

May; clearing

The Mae element descends from May, from Maia, a Roman goddess associated with growth, though it may also be a short form of Mary. The Lee element is the Old English leah, 'clearing'. The compound is modern American.

How the name formed

  1. Maia
  2. May Lee
  3. Maelee

Related forms: Maylee · Maeleigh

Pronouncing Maelee

MAY-lee

Two syllables, stress on the first. All the spellings of the sound are said identically.

Nicknames for Maelee

Moderate

MaeThe front of the name, and a name in its own right with a real record
LeeThe back of the name, and a name of its own for both sexes
II

What the data says

The long climb, and where it stands now

GIRLS NAMED · 1970–202593470937919702025

US babies named Maelee per year from 1970 to 2025
AVERAGE RANK BY DECADE#1#10#100#1000#20671970s2020s

The same years in position rather than babies

First recorded
1970
Most girls named
202493 — the highest on record
Peak rank
#2067reached in 2024
Change vs 2024
−15.1%79 in 2025, from 93
Maelee sits in the rare tail. Its best year on record was 2024, with 93 girls. Today it is given to few enough children that it does not enter the ranked charts at all.

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.

Maelee in other languages

The same name elsewhere

  • Maylee in English — spelling variant
  • Maeleigh in English — spelling variant

Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, Tennessee, Indiana.

Maelees among us

1,600

people named Maelee are estimated to be alive in the US today

About 1 girl in 20,345 born in 2025 was named Maelee

Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method

Spellings of Maelee

#2298
Maelee on the 2025 chart
#820
counting every spelling

The SSA counts spellings, not names. Maelee went to 79 girls in 2025, but Maelle is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 140, which makes it the 820th most-given girls’ name of the year — 1,478 places above the chart.

About 1 girl in 11,480 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 20,345 for Maelee itself.

Spellings are grouped by a fixed rule that folds interchangeable English spellings of one sound (ck/k, ph/f, x/ks, a non-initial y for i) and keeps vowels apart, so Sean and Shawn stay separate names. It errs towards splitting: a family here is never larger than the truth. SSA national data, 2025. Method

III

Is it right for you

The Makya test

Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Maelee's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Makya climbed just as high around 2004, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Makya's path sketches the road Maelee is walking now.

40%chance Maelee will feel “very 2020s” by 2040
Maelee, aligned on its peakMakya· peak 2004not yet written
#1#10#100#1000peak-40 yrs+20 yrsMakya · #10420Maelee today
Maelee today is about where Makya stood in 2005 — 1 year past a #2067-sized peak. By 2020, Makya had settled around #10420.
Ages quietlysteadyDates fast

Maelee 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 scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored

Where Maelee is headed

19702030

US babies named Maelee per year, 1970 to 2025, with a projection to 2030

Maelee should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.

Steady+9% by 2030projected around #2,268 in 2030

Medium confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.

A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.

Maelee beside its neighbors

The names ranked closest to Maelee in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.

Maeleethis name79#2298Shyla79#2298Skylah79#2298Therese79#2298Jennie79#2298

US girls given each name in 2025.

The trade-off

Practical strengths
  • That May is named for a goddess of growth is a genuinely good fact.
  • Mae and Lee are two short forms, both with real records.
  • Two clean syllables with no pronunciation risk.
What to consider
  • The compound is modern rather than inherited.
  • At least four spellings of the sound are in circulation.
  • It will be respelled by other people constantly.

Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive

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Maelee

Feminine · #2298 in the U.S.

♥ Love itNot for meLet’s talk about it
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Frequently asked

How many Maelees are there in the world?
No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,600 people named Maelee are estimated to be alive in the US today.
How do you spell Maelee?
Maelee is the most-used spelling in US records — 79 of the 140 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Maelle.
How popular is the name Maelee in 2025?
Maelee ranks #2298 among US girl names in 2025, with 79 babies given the name.
How rare is the name Maelee?
About 1 in every 20,345 US girls born in 2025 was named Maelee — 79 in all.
Will my child share the name Maelee with classmates?
Maelee will almost certainly be the only one in school.

Ranked beside Maelee

Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.

Shyla#2298 · Skylah#2298 · Therese#2298 · Jennie#2298 · Shira#2298 · Jahzara#2298 · Emelyn#2298 · Khelani#2298

Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Maelee? See the current top 100.

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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology

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