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Mai

#3,016 in 2025Girls' name

Wheat

Mai has been given to 5,697 babies in the U.S. since 1880. In 2025 it ranked #3,016 of 17,293 girls’ names in use. Its peak year was 1990, with 254 recorded.

Babies named Mai, 2025

1 in 60,300

Mai over time, 1880–2025

GirlsBoys
010020030018801900192019401960198020002020

Based on births in the U.S. Babies given the name each year. Hover the chart — or focus it and use the arrow keys — for any year. Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Mai: meaning, origin, and history

Wheat

Chinese

What Mai means

Mai means “wheat”, associated with /麦.

Dictionary etymologyReferences, data & attribution

Chinese surname with several origins: * from Mandarin 麥 /麦 (“wheat”), * from Mandarin and Cantonese 買 /买 (maai⁵, “buy”) * Cantonese form of 米 (see Mi). * Romanized from 马 (mǎ) (see Ma) * Romanized from 梅 (méi) (see Mei) As a German surname, variant of May.

Excerpt from Wiktionary: Mai (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Origin, language, and formation

Mai is used in English, Danish, Estonian, Norwegian and Vietnamese. Its origins include Chinese.

Mai comes through Mandarin 麥 and yue 買.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include 米, May, Mae, Maj and Maja.

Pronunciation and spelling

In Vietnamese, Mai is pronounced [maːj˧˧].

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 5,677 girls were recorded with the name Mai between 1880 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 254 in 1990; its best national rank was #792 in 1881.

Over 5 years its rank rose, from #3,257 in 2020 to #3,016 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank rose, from #3,460 in 2015 to #3,016 in 2025.

In the United States, 20 boys were recorded with the name Mai between 1984 and 1989. Its highest annual count was 9 in 1985; its best national rank was #4,547 in 1985.

How common is Mai?

Everything below is computed from the 2025 data — the most recent year available.

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 60,300
55 of 3,315,165 births
Among girls only
1 in 29,200
<0.01% of girls
Rank, 2025
#3,016
of 17,293 girls’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
41,781 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Mai sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Olivia (13,544)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 2025 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.

Class of 20Under 1%
Class of 30Under 1%
Grade of 100Under 1%
School of 500Under 1%

Put another way: gather 41,781 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Mai. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Mais were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Mai was born before 1991 — so the typical Mai is around 34 today.

Median birth year
1991
About 34 years old
Biggest decade
1990s
29.2% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
26.5%
Spread across generations
Recorded since 1950
5,256
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

1990s — 29.2% of all recorded uses (1,656).

Is Mai rising or falling?

Rank movement and count movement can disagree — the number of distinct names in use keeps growing, so a name holding a steady count still slides down the list. Both are shown.

Rank vs 1 year ago
+245
Places climbed
Rank vs 5 years ago
+241
Places climbed
Rank vs 10 years ago
+444
Places climbed
Births vs 10 years ago
1.20×
More babies than then
Share of its own peak
21.7%
Peak was 1990 (254)
Years since peak
35
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Shifting
12.2% average annual change
Best rank ever
#792
1881

Where Mai is used

Across 1910–2025, Mai was most concentrated in Minnesota — about 1 in 5,882 girls, against 1 in 32,033 across all states with data. It was least common in Virginia (1 in —).

017 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1Minnesota1 in 5,882
  2. 2Wisconsin1 in 8,333
  3. 3California1 in 9,091
  4. 4Tennessee1 in 14,286
  5. 5Texas1 in 50,000
  6. 6Louisiana1 in 100,000
  7. 7Massachusetts1 in 100,000
  8. 8New Jersey1 in 100,000

Shading is the share of that state's recorded girls given this name, not the raw count — otherwise the map would just show which states are biggest. Unshaded states have no published records for this period. U.S. birth records suppress state-year counts below 5; state counts therefore don't add up to the national total. Every state links to its full rankings. Mai has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Mai around the world

Where Mai ranks in official birth records elsewhere in the world. Rankings only — the number of births isn’t comparable between places, so it isn’t shown.

  • England & Wales
    1996–2025
    #1,584
    in 2025
  • Ireland
    2001–2025
    #608
    in 2025
  • France
    1956–2025
    #1,698
    in 2025
  • Norway
    1880–2025
    #424
    in 2025
  • Canada
    1991–2023
    #2,049
    in 2023
  • South Australia
    1961–2012
    #338
    in 2012

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, Central Statistics Office, Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques, Statistics Norway, Statistics Canada and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS data under Open Government Licence v3.0. CSO, SSB, CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0. INSEE data under Licence Ouverte / Etalab 2.0. StatCan data under Statistics Canada Open Licence.

Notable people named Mai

People whose public names include Mai, backed by Wikidata given-name records and ordered by linked Wikimedia pages. The name may be a middle name.

People data from Wikidata (CC0). Fame is measured, not judged — the order reflects how widely each person is documented, not the U.S. birth records popularity this page is otherwise about.

Mai in other languages

Cross-language forms and variants of Mai. Linked forms have their own page here.

MayMaieMaj

Variant forms from Wikidata (CC0). Most are used mainly outside the United States; U.S. birth records statistics cover US usage only.

Mai by the numbers

The raw record for each sex the name is used for.

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
#3,016
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Up 241
Best rank ever
#792
1881
Peak year
1990
254 that year
First recorded
1880
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
5,677
Count in 2025
55

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
—
Best rank ever
#4,547
1985
Peak year
1985
9 that year
First recorded
1984
Last recorded
1989
All-time count
20
Count in 2025
Under 5

Names similar to Mai

Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.

MairaMaiteMaiyaMaisyMaiaMaileMaidaMaizyMaizieMaijaMaisieMaiahMaishaMaisynMailaMailyMaiseyMaikaMailynMaisonMailiMairinMaizeyMailen

Names with a curve like Mai

Not spelling — timing. These names rose, peaked and faded in the same years as Mai, so they read as being from the same moment even when they look nothing alike.

AlexanderJessiChanelleShanelleKassieJanayBritanyKrystaKristianKrystinaCodiKrysten

Sibling names for Mai

Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.

Explore around Mai

Top names of 1990, Mai's peak yearThe 1990s in fullOther names that peaked in 1881Girls' names starting with M