Maite
Feminine · “Beloved" in Basque”
Maite reaches English-speaking parents by two roads at once: in Basque, *maite* is the everyday word for "beloved" — the same word in *maite zaitut*, "I love you" — and in Spanish, Maite is the long-standing household shortening of María Teresa. Two syllables, five letters, and a soft open ending that lands the same way in Spanish, Basque and French.
How old is the name Maite?
Maite first appears in US birth records in 1968 — 57 years ago. The typical Maite alive today was born around 2012, making them about 13 years old. About 4,400 people named Maite are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Maite most popular?
Maite peaked in 2011, reaching #1022 nationally. Today it ranks #1192, 170 places below that high. See the whole 2011 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From María to Maite
The story of Maite
The Basque word *maite* has meant "loved" or "beloved" for as long as Basque has been written down, and it became a given name in the Basque Country alongside a cluster of related forms like Maitane and Maitena. Separately, Spanish speakers have long compressed double names into single affectionate ones, and María Teresa — a pairing carried by generations of Spanish and Latin American women — gave Maite. The two streams met at the same spelling, which is why the name is at home both in the Basque provinces and across Spanish-speaking Latin America. It came into US records in the later twentieth century and has been rising, most visibly in Texas, California and Florida.
Meaningscholars disagree
"Beloved" in Basque; also a short form of María Teresa
Two genuine sources, and both are well attested. The Basque road is a plain vocabulary word: *maite*, beloved or loved. The Spanish road is a contraction — the *Mai-* of María joined to the *Te-* of Teresa, the same trick that produced Maribel and Marisol. Many families use the name with one reading in mind and never meet the other.
How the name formed
- María
- Teresa
- María Teresa
- Maite
Related forms: Maite · Maite · Maïté · Maitane · Maitena · Maite
Pronouncing Maite
MY-teh
Three sounds in Spanish and Basque: MY-teh, with a clear short final e, stress on the first syllable. Many US speakers land on my-TAY or MY-tay, which the name absorbs without much trouble. The one to head off is MAYT, rhyming with "mate."
Nicknames for Maite
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
- 1968
- Most girls named
- 2011244 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1022reached in 2011
- Change vs 2024
- −19.9%193 in 2025, from 241
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.
Maite in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Maite in Spanish — same name
- Maite in Basque — same name
- Maïté in French — spelling variant
- Maitane in Basque — related form
- Maitena in Basque — related form
- Maite in Catalan — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, California, Florida.
Maites among us
people named Maite are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 8,328 born in 2025 was named Maite
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Maite
- #1192
- Maite on the 2025 chart
- #701
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Maite went to 193 girls in 2025, but Mayte and Maitte are the same name said out loud. Together the 3 spellings went to 264, which makes it the 701st most-given girls’ name of the year — 491 places above the chart.
- Maite193
- Mayte64
- Maitte7
About 1 girl in 6,088 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 8,328 for Maite 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 Glory test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Maite's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Glory climbed just as high around 1945, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Glory's path sketches the road Maite is walking now.
Maite 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 Maite is headed
Maite looks set to keep climbing gently, with roughly 26% 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.
Maite beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Maite in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Complete as it stands — a name that needs no longer formal version behind it, though it can also serve as the short form of María Teresa.
- Works unchanged in Spanish, Basque and Catalan, and needs only an accent to become the French Maïté.
- Short, five letters, and spelled exactly as it sounds in Spanish — no silent letters, no doubled consonants to negotiate.
- Already established in Texas, California and Florida, so in many communities it arrives recognized rather than explained.
- The final -e is the sticking point in English. Expect a lifetime of gentle corrections from people who read it as MAYT or add a long -tee, and expect that a one-time "MY-teh" usually fixes it.
- Rare enough in the US that a Maite will most likely be the only one in her school — welcome to some families, tiring to others, since it means the name is introduced rather than assumed.
- Because Maite is itself a shortening in the Spanish tradition, relatives may reach for María Teresa as the "real" name even when the birth certificate says otherwise. Worth deciding in advance which one you want used.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Maite to the vote.
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What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Maite
Feminine · #1192 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Maites are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 4,400 people named Maite are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Maite?
- Maite is the most-used spelling in US records — 193 of the 264 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Mayte and Maitte.
- How popular is the name Maite in 2025?
- Maite ranks #1192 among US girl names in 2025, with 193 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Maite?
- About 1 in every 8,328 US girls born in 2025 was named Maite — 193 in all.
- Will my child share the name Maite with classmates?
- Maite will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Maite
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Odessa#1192 · Gitty#1192 · Aliah#1192 · Nori#1192 · Angelique#1192 · Keily#1190 · Kaisley#1190 · Keilany#1198
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Maite? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Maite and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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