Meir
Masculine · “one who gives light”
Meir is a Hebrew word doing duty as a name: the active participle of the root for light, so it says "giving light" rather than "light" itself. It has been carried continuously since at least the rabbinic period, and it survives in English mostly through the Yiddish-inflected spellings Meyer and Mayer. Four letters, no silent ones, and a sound that changes shape depending on which Jewish community you learned it in.
How old is the name Meir?
Meir first appears in US birth records in 1951 — 74 years ago. The typical Meir is a kid of about 11 — this name's wave is very recent. About 4,500 people named Meir are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Meir most popular?
Meir peaked in 2024, reaching #907 nationally. Today it ranks #948, 41 places below that high. See the whole 2024 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From מֵאִיר (Me'ir) to Meir
The story of Meir
The name belongs to Hebrew and stayed there: it appears as the name of Rabbi Meir, one of the sages quoted throughout the Mishnah in the second century, and later of Meir of Rothenburg, the leading rabbinic authority of thirteenth-century Germany. Ashkenazi communities pronounced it in the Yiddish manner, and when families reached English-speaking countries that pronunciation was written down as Meyer or Mayer — which is why the same name sits in some families as a surname and in others as a first name. The plain transliteration Meir came back into everyday use with Modern Hebrew and with Orthodox naming practice, and that is the form now used in the US, clustered in the states with the largest Jewish communities.
Meaning
one who gives light; shining, illuminating
From the Hebrew root אור (or), "light" — the form is the causative participle, so the sense is closer to "lighting up" than to "light" as a noun.
How the name formed
- מֵאִירMe'ir
- Meir
- Meyer
- Mayer
Related forms: מֵאִיר · Meyer · Mayer · Meïr · Meier · Meira
Pronouncing Meir
may-EER
Modern Hebrew takes two syllables with the stress at the end. In Ashkenazi and Yiddish usage it is closer to MYE-er, rhyming with "fire" — both are correct, and families generally know which one they mean.
Nicknames for Meir
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
- 1951
- Most boys named
- 2024258 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #907reached in 2024
- Change vs 2024
- −3.9%248 in 2025, from 258
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.
Meir in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- מֵאִיר in Hebrew — same name
- Meyer in Yiddish — spelling variant
- Mayer in English (older usage) — spelling variant
- Meïr in French — transliteration
- Meier in German — spelling variant
- Meira in Hebrew (feminine) — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: New York, New Jersey, California.
Meirs among us
people named Meir are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 6,887 born in 2025 was named Meir
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Kalvin test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Meir's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Kalvin climbed just as high around 1988, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Kalvin's path sketches the road Meir is walking now.
Meir 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 Meir is headed
Meir 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.
Meir beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Meir in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- A settled, transparent meaning in Hebrew: the word for giving light, recognizable to any Hebrew speaker without explanation.
- Short, four letters, phonetically spellable once heard — no silent letters or double consonants to negotiate.
- Documented in continuous use since the rabbinic period, which is a longer unbroken record than most names can show.
- Exists across Hebrew, Yiddish, German and English in recognizable forms, so relatives in different countries can all say it.
- Two live pronunciations — may-EER and MYE-er — so it will be asked about, and you may find yourself correcting the version you did not choose.
- Outside Jewish communities, Meyer and Mayer are far better known as surnames, and the spelling Meir will be read as one by people who have not met the name before.
- It does not shorten easily in English, so the full name is what a child will mostly be called.
- Its use in the US is concentrated in a few states, which means it may be entirely familiar in one community and completely new in another.
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What they receive
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Meir
Masculine · #948 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Meirs are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 4,500 people named Meir are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Meir in 2025?
- Meir ranks #948 among US boy names in 2025, with 248 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Meir?
- About 1 in every 6,887 US boys born in 2025 was named Meir — 248 in all.
- Will my child share the name Meir with classmates?
- Meir will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Meir
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Ricky#948 · Josias#950 · Jon#951 · Jethro#952 · Mitchell#952 · Agustin#952 · Eugene#943 · Kenji#943
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Meir? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Meir and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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