Maye
Feminine · “Latin Maius”
The may in the hedgerow is not the month. May is the English name of the hawthorn blossom, and the old warning about not casting a clout till May is out refers to the flower rather than to the calendar.
How old is the name Maye?
Maye was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Maye alive today was born around 1916, making them about 109 years old. About 300 people named Maye are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Maye most popular?
Maye peaked in 1903, reaching #504 nationally. Today it ranks #10107, 9,603 places below that high. See the whole 1903 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Maius to Maye
The story of Maye
Hawthorn flowers at the turn of spring, and English calls the blossom may. The proverb about not casting a clout till may be out has been argued over for two centuries precisely because both readings work, and the flower reading is the older: do not shed clothing until the hedges are white. The tree carried a great deal of folklore, cut branches brought indoors for May Day, blossom kept out of the house at other times, and the wood associated with boundaries and with the fairy hill. As a personal name May did double duty, standing for the month, the flower and the pet form of Mary, and it was one of the most common girls' names in America in the decades either side of 1900. Maye is the spelling with a final e, a marker rather than a sound.
Meaningscholars disagree
Latin Maius, the month
Maye is a spelling of May, which is at once the month, the hawthorn blossom and a traditional English pet form of Mary and Margaret. Which of the three a given family meant is usually unrecoverable. The month is named for Maia, an Italic goddess of growth. The peak of this spelling is 1903.
How the name formed
- Maius
- May
- Maye
Related forms: May · Mae
Pronouncing Maye
MAY
One syllable. May, Mae and Maye are homophones; the final e is a marker and adds no sound.
Nicknames for Maye
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
- 191655 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #504reached in 1903
- Change vs 2023
- −35.7%9 in 2025, from 14
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.
Maye in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- May in English — spelling variant
- Mae in English — spelling variant
Mayes among us
people named Maye are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 178,585 born in 2025 was named Maye
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
Fashion outlook
Maye 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
Maye beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Maye in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- One syllable, three or four letters, impossible to mispronounce.
- It works as a first name and as a middle name equally.
- Mary and Margaret are both available as formal versions.
- May and Mae are both more common spellings.
- It is very short, and some settings will expect more.
- The 1903 peak dates this spelling to the turn of the century.
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What they receive
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Maye
Feminine · #10107 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Mayes are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 300 people named Maye are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Maye in 2025?
- Maye ranks #10107 among US girl names in 2025, with 9 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Maye?
- About 1 in every 178,585 US girls born in 2025 was named Maye — 9 in all.
- Will my child share the name Maye with classmates?
- Maye will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Maye
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Berta#10107 · Jettie#10107 · Osa#10107 · Fidelia#10107 · Alysa#10107 · Su#10107 · Arletta#10107 · Willie#10107
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Maye? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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