Maisie
Feminine · “pearl”
Maisie began as a Scots pet form of Margaret, the everyday name for a Mairead or a Maggie, and it kept its footing in Scotland long after fashion moved on elsewhere. Henry James took it south for his 1897 novel *What Maisie Knew*, which put the spelling in print for English readers. Two syllables, both open, ending in that soft -zee that carries well across a playground.
How old is the name Maisie?
Maisie first appears in US birth records in 1890 — 135 years ago. The typical Maisie is a kid of about 5 — this name's wave is very recent. About 12,000 people named Maisie are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Maisie most popular?
Maisie peaked in 2025, reaching #233 nationally. Today it ranks #233, exactly where it peaked. See the whole 2025 chart.
Maisie appears on these lists:
Where it comes from
From Margarites to Maisie
The story of Maisie
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. Henry James used it as a full name for the child at the center of *What Haisie Knew* in 1897, and by the twentieth century British families were giving it in its own right. It has stayed steadily in use in Scotland and across England and Wales, and more recently gained visibility in the United States through the actress who played Arya Stark.
Meaning
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.
Cultural footprint
Maisie Williams (b. 1997) — Game of Thrones' Arya Stark
Source: Wikidata — the one source on this page that is not an official agency.
How the name formed
- Margarites
- Margaret
- Mairead
- Maisie
Related forms: Mysie · Maisy · Mairead · Margaret · Margarita · Marged
Pronouncing 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.
Nicknames for Maisie
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
- 1890
- Most girls named
- 20251,328 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #233reached in 2025
- Change vs 2023
- +24.9%1,328 in 2025, from 1,063
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.
Maisie in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Mysie in Scots — related form
- Maisy in English — spelling variant
- Mairead in Scottish Gaelic — related form
- Margaret in English — related form
- Margarita in Spanish — related form
- Marged in Welsh — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, Pennsylvania. International figures from National Records of Scotland, Office for National Statistics. Sources
Maisies among us
people named Maisie are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 1,210 born in 2025 was named Maisie
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Maisie
- #233
- Maisie on the 2025 chart
- #186
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Maisie went to 1,328 girls in 2025, but Maizie, Mayzie and Maycie and the rest below are the same name said out loud. Together the 5 spellings went to 1,779, which makes it the 186th most-given girls’ name of the year — 47 places above the chart.
About 1 girl in 903 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 1,210 for Maisie 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
The Keisha test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Maisie's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Keisha climbed just as high around 1976, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Keisha's path sketches the road Maisie is walking now.
Maisie is climbing fast right now. Steep climbs tend to come with steep descents — the quicker a name arrives, the more firmly it belongs to its moment.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Maisie is headed
Maisie looks set to keep climbing gently, with roughly 24% more babies a year by 2030 if the current curve holds.
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.
Maisie beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Maisie in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- 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.
- Uncommon enough in American classrooms that a child is unlikely to share it, while still being instantly recognizable.
- 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.
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What they receive
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Maisie
Feminine · #233 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Maisies are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 12,000 people named Maisie are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Maisie?
- Maisie is the most-used spelling in US records — 1,328 of the 1,779 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Maizie, Mayzie, Maycie and Maysie.
- How popular is the name Maisie in 2025?
- Maisie ranks #233 among US girl names in 2025, with 1,328 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Maisie?
- About 1 in every 1,210 US girls born in 2025 was named Maisie — 1,328 in all.
- Will my child share the name Maisie with classmates?
- Maisie will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Maisie
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Arianna#234 · Palmer#232 · Andrea#235 · Wren#231 · Nyla#236 · Rory#230 · Cataleya#237 · Kiara#229
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Maisie? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Maisie and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration; international figures from national statistics agencies. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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