Maylee
Feminine
Maylee is an American-made name, put together from parts English speakers have known for centuries: May, long used both for the month and as a pet form of Mary and Margaret, and the ending -lee, from the surname Lee. It reads exactly as it sounds, and it sits in a rhyme-family that includes Kaylee, Hailey and Bailey — familiar in shape, uncommon in this particular spelling.
How old is the name Maylee?
Maylee first appears in US birth records in 1969 — 56 years ago. The typical Maylee is a kid of about 9 — this name's wave is very recent. About 4,600 people named Maylee are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Maylee most popular?
Maylee peaked in 2016, reaching #989 nationally. Today it ranks #1022, 33 places below that high. See the whole 2016 chart.
Maylee appears on this list:
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
The story of Maylee
Maylee has no old lineage to trace; it appears in American records in the twentieth century and grew from there, as English-speaking parents built new names out of familiar syllables. Its rise runs alongside a whole cohort of -lee and -leigh names — Kaylee, Hailey, Rylee, Bailey — that spread widely through the second half of that century, a pattern that borrowed surname endings and attached them to short, bright first syllables. May had already been in steady use on its own, and Lee had crossed from surname to given name for both boys and girls. Maylee is what happens when those two habits meet, and the wave carrying it is a recent one, so most of the people who have it are still young.
Meaningnot established
Not established
No meaning has been established for Maylee, because no one documented where the first families who used it got it. What is documented is the two pieces it is built from: May, an English name tied to the month and used as a short form of Mary and Margaret, and Lee, an English surname from Old English leah, 'clearing' or 'meadow'. Whether any given family had those in mind, or simply liked the sound, the record does not say.
Pronouncing Maylee
MAY-lee
Two syllables, stress on the first. English speakers get it right from the spelling on the first try — the difficulty runs the other way, from sound to page.
Nicknames for Maylee
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
- 1969
- Most girls named
- 2016268 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #989reached in 2016
- Change vs 2024
- −1.6%245 in 2025, from 249
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.
Maylee in other languages
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, Tennessee, Ohio.
Maylees among us
people named Maylee are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 6,560 born in 2025 was named Maylee
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Maylee
- #1022
- Maylee on the 2025 chart
- #676
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Maylee went to 245 girls in 2025, but Maile and Mailee are the same name said out loud. Together the 3 spellings went to 293, which makes it the 676th most-given girls’ name of the year — 346 places above the chart.
About 1 girl in 5,486 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 6,560 for Maylee 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 Keila test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Maylee's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Keila climbed just as high around 2001, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Keila's path sketches the road Maylee is walking now.
Maylee 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 Maylee is headed
Maylee should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
High 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.
Maylee beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Maylee in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Reads correctly on sight for English speakers: two syllables, no silent letters, no ambiguity about the stress.
- Built from two elements almost everyone already knows — May and Lee — so nobody has to be taught how to say it.
- Comes with ready-made short forms, May and Mae, both of which stand alone as given names if she ever wants something shorter.
- Uncommon in this spelling while sounding entirely at home beside the many -lee and -leigh names in circulation.
- Works on a child and on an adult, and shortens to something that has been in use for generations.
- The spelling is the real cost. Mailee, Maylie, Mayleigh, Maeleigh and Maleah all sound the same, so she will spell it aloud fairly often, and forms will come back wrong.
- It sits in a crowded sound-family — Kaylee, Hailey, Bailey, Riley — which makes it easy to say but also easy to mishear, and she may occasionally be called by one of the neighbors.
- No settled meaning. If you want a name with a documented translation behind it, this one won't give you that; what it gives instead is two recognizable English pieces and a sound that carries.
- Because its wave is recent, the name reads as belonging to a young generation. That fades as any cohort grows up, but it is worth knowing now.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Maylee to the vote.
Add it to a family vote or a couple’s swipe deck — the other person gets one card, a simple answer and room to say why. No app, no account for them.
Only the people you invite can see your list.
Already decided on Maylee? Hide it among decoys and let them guess.
What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Maylee
Feminine · #1022 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Maylees are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 4,600 people named Maylee are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Maylee?
- Maylee is the most-used spelling in US records — 245 of the 293 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Maile and Mailee.
- How popular is the name Maylee in 2025?
- Maylee ranks #1022 among US girl names in 2025, with 245 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Maylee?
- About 1 in every 6,560 US girls born in 2025 was named Maylee — 245 in all.
- Will my child share the name Maylee with classmates?
- Maylee will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Maylee
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Yamileth#1022 · Cadence#1022 · Serafina#1022 · Spencer#1022 · Dana#1027 · Waverly#1027 · Beverly#1016 · Marjorie#1016
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Maylee? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Maylee and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
Compare side by sideIn a hurry? Just pick a winner — one tap, no sign-up, and you see how everyone else voted.
Weighing a whole shortlist? Add the rest in the builder, or settle it with a bracket.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
No advertising trackers and no data sellinghow we handle your dataindependent and founder-run, about Name Battle