Mayim

Girls' name

Water

Mayim has been given to 48 babies in the U.S. since 1993. 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 2016, with 10 recorded.

Babies named Mayim, 2019

1 in 579,000

Mayim over time, 1880–2025

Girls

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Mayim: meaning, origin, and history

Water

Hebrew

What Mayim means

Mayim means “water”, associated with מים.

Dictionary etymologyReferences, data & attribution

Popularized by U.S. actress Mayim Bialik, Bialik's name originated as a diminutive contraction of Maryam, her grandmother's name. It has been reinterpreted as deriving from Hebrew מים (“water”).

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

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Origin, language, and formation

Mayim is used in English. Its origins include Hebrew.

Mayim comes through Hebrew מים.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Maryam.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 48 girls were recorded with the name Mayim between 1993 and 2019. Its highest annual count was 10 in 2016; its best national rank was #10,208 in 1993.

How common is Mayim?

Mayim had fewer than 5 recorded uses in 2025, so these figures use 2019, the last year it was published.

Among all babies, 2019: 1 in 579,000; 6 of 3,472,229 births
Among girls only: 1 in 280,000; <0.01% of girls
Rank, 2019: Unranked; Fewer than 5 uses
Coin-flip room size: 401,129 kids; Even odds of a second one

Where Mayim 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 2019 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 401,129 children born in 2019 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Mayim. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Mayims were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Mayim was born before 2016 — so the typical Mayim is around 9 today.

Median birth year: 2016; About 9 years old
Biggest decade: 2010s; 83.3% of all use
Born in the last 25 years: 83.3%; A modern name
Recorded since 1950: 48; People you could plausibly meet

Choose a decade

2010s — 83.3% of all recorded uses (40).

Is Mayim 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 2016 (10)
Years since peak: 9; Years
Year-to-year steadiness: Volatile; 25.7% average annual change
Best rank ever: #10,208; 1993

Spellings of Mayim

Mayim is not the most common spelling — Maria is, with 34.6% against Mayim's <0.01%.

Maria34.6%566,111
Marie33.0%540,077
Maya7.6%123,587
Mamie4.8%77,907
May3.0%49,400
Mayra2.0%33,217
Malia1.9%31,606
Macie1.4%23,472

Grouped by closeness of spelling (up to two letter changes), same sex, with a floor on all-time use. It catches Sophia/Sofia and Aiden/Ayden, and misses spellings that sound alike but look different, like Sean and Shawn.

Mayim 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: #10,208; 1993
Peak year: 2016; 10 that year
First recorded: 1993
Last recorded: 2019
All-time count: 48
Count in 2025: Under 5

Names similar to Mayim

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

Mayzi Mayer Mayka Mayze Mayva Mays Mayve Mayani Mayble Mayle Mayara Mayia Mayzlee Maylah Mayely Mayuri Mayan Maylei Maycen Mayre Mayrim Mayana Mayanna Mayley

Sibling names for Mayim

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

For a sister

Karleigh Hadlee Heavenly Scarlette Ayesha Henley Annalee Raylee

For a brother

Smith Damari Kye Canaan Vladimir Cayson Hamilton Kingsley

Explore around Mayim

Top names of 2016, Mayim's peak year The 2010s in full Other names that peaked in 1993 Girls' names starting with M