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Mao

Girls' name

Japanese name; meaning depends on kanji

Mao has been given to 295 babies in the U.S. since 1980. It was used fewer than 5 times in 2025, so it doesn't appear in the latest year's list — today it's a genuinely uncommon pick. Its peak year was 1983, with 17 recorded.

Babies named Mao, 2016

1 in 734,000

Mao over time, 1880–2025

GirlsBoys
0510152018801900192019401960198020002020

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Mao: meaning, origin, and history

Japanese name; meaning depends on kanji

Japanese

What Mao means

Mao is documented with more than one possible Japanese character combination. The Latin-letter spelling records a pronunciation; it does not specify one unique kanji spelling or one universal meaning.

Possible character meanings include real, genuine, dance, center, thread.

Documented naming usage and pronunciation

Mao is used in Japanese.

Another recorded pronunciation is /mä.o̞/ for Mao.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 285 girls were recorded with the name Mao between 1980 and 2016. Its highest annual count was 17 in 1983; its best national rank was #4,396 in 1983.

In the United States, 10 boys were recorded with the name Mao between 1991 and 1993. Its highest annual count was 5 in 1991; its best national rank was #9,088 in 1991.

Sources & methodologyReferences, data & attribution

Meaning, origin, and language notes draw on the references below.

American popularity figures use published Social Security Administration records for this exact spelling. Counts below five for a name, sex, and year are omitted.

How common is Mao?

Mao had fewer than 5 recorded uses in 2025, so these figures use 2016, the last year it was published.

Among all babies, 2016
1 in 734,000
5 of 3,669,531 births
Among girls only
1 in 354,000
<0.01% of girls
Rank, 2016
Unranked
Fewer than 5 uses
Coin-flip room size
508,706 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Mao 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 2016 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 508,706 children born in 2016 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Mao. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Maos were born

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

Median birth year
1991
About 34 years old
Biggest decade
1980s
42.5% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
48.4%
Spread across generations
Recorded since 1950
285
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

1980s — 42.5% of all recorded uses (121).

Is Mao 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
—
Not ranked then
Rank vs 5 years ago
New entry
Not ranked then
Rank vs 10 years ago
—
Not ranked then
Births vs 10 years ago
—
Not published both years
Share of its own peak
0%
Peak was 1983 (17)
Years since peak
42
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Volatile
35.4% average annual change
Best rank ever
#4,396
1983

Where Mao is used

Across 1910–2025, Mao was most concentrated in California — about 1 in — girls, against 1 in 228,608 across all states with data. It was least common in Minnesota (1 in —).

00 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1California1 in —
  2. 2Minnesota1 in —

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. Mao has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Mao around the world

Where Mao 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.

  • France
    2003–2025
    #2,565
    in 2025

Popularity data from Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques. INSEE data under Licence Ouverte / Etalab 2.0.

Mao by the numbers

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

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
—
Best rank ever
#4,396
1983
Peak year
1983
17 that year
First recorded
1980
Last recorded
2016
All-time count
285
Count in 2025
Under 5

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
—
Best rank ever
#9,088
1991
Peak year
1991
5 that year
First recorded
1991
Last recorded
1993
All-time count
10
Count in 2025
Under 5

Names similar to Mao

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

MaomiMaori

Sibling names for Mao

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 Mao

Top names of 1983, Mao's peak yearThe 1980s in fullOther names that peaked in 1983Girls' names starting with M