Mai
Feminine · “dance”
Mai is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 5,677 girls against 20 boys since 1880.
Mai is three names at three letters. In Japanese it is a dance. In Vietnamese it is the apricot blossom that opens for the lunar new year. In Scandinavia and France it is the month of May, and none of the three knows about the others.
How old is the name Mai?
Mai was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Mai alive today was born around 1991, making them about 34 years old. About 5,200 people named Mai are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Mai most popular?
Mai peaked in 1880, reaching #738 nationally. Today it ranks #2998, 2,260 places below that high. See the whole 1880 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
The story of Mai
The Vietnamese mai is a real cultural fixture: households in southern Vietnam buy branches of it for the new year the way northern households buy peach blossom, and a mai that opens on the right day is taken as a good sign. The Japanese mai names a slow, turning form of dance distinct from odori, the livelier kind. The European Mai is simply the month. All three roads reach United States records, and the American record for this spelling has a long tail going back to the nineteenth century.
Meaningscholars disagree
dance — in Japanese; apricot blossom — in Vietnamese; May — in European use
Japanese 舞 mai means a dance, and it is a common element in women's names. Vietnamese mai is the yellow apricot blossom that is the flower of Tet in the south of the country. Scandinavian Maj and French Mai are the month, from the Roman goddess Maia. All three are documented on their own side and unrelated to each other.
Pronouncing Mai
MY
One syllable, rhyming with my, in Japanese and in Scandinavian use. Vietnamese carries a tone on it that English cannot record, and the vowel is slightly different; MAY, following the English month, is also heard in American use.
Nicknames for Mai
Moderate
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
- 1880
- Most girls named
- 1991221 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #738reached in 1880
- Change vs 2023
- +7.8%55 in 2025, from 51
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.
Mai in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- 舞 in Japanese — transliteration
- Mai in Vietnamese — same name
- Maj in Swedish — related form
- May in English — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, New York.
Mais among us
people named Mai are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 29,223 born in 2025 was named Mai
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Mai
- #2998
- Mai on the 2025 chart
- #724
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Mai went to 55 girls in 2025, but May is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 238, which makes it the 724th most-given girls’ name of the year — 2,274 places above the chart.
- May183
- Mai55
About 1 girl in 6,753 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 29,223 for Mai 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
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
Fashion outlook
Mai 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 Mai is headed
Mai should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
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.
Mai beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Mai in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Three letters, one syllable, and easy for a small child to write.
- At home in Japanese, Vietnamese and Scandinavian naming at once, which almost no spelling manages.
- Pairs cleanly with a long surname, as very short first names do.
- Its meaning depends entirely on which of three unrelated traditions the family means.
- Vietnamese tone cannot be written in American records, and part of the word goes with it.
- Mai, May, Mae and Maj all circulate and belong to different traditions.
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What they receive
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Mai
Feminine · #2998 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Mais are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 5,200 people named Mai are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Mai?
- Mai is one of 2 recorded spellings. May is the more common one — 183 births in 2025 against 55 for Mai.
- How popular is the name Mai in 2025?
- Mai ranks #2998 among US girl names in 2025, with 55 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Mai?
- About 1 in every 29,223 US girls born in 2025 was named Mai — 55 in all.
- Will my child share the name Mai with classmates?
- Mai will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Mai
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Imara#2998 · Aniston#2998 · Hilda#2998 · Leiana#2998 · Amna#2998 · Halia#2998 · Kassie#2998 · Alize#2998
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Mai? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Mai and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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