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Mei

#1,744 in 2025Girls' name

Multiple documented origins; meaning depends on tradition

Mei has been given to 1,859 babies in the U.S. since 1947. In 2025 it ranked #1,744 of 17,293 girls’ names in use. Its peak year was 2025, with 117 recorded.

Babies named Mei, 2025

1 in 28,300

Mei over time, 1880–2025

Girls
05010015018801900192019401960198020002020

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Mei: meaning, origin, and history

Multiple documented origins; meaning depends on tradition

Mandarin and English

What Mei means

Mei has more than one naming route in the cited origin entries: distinct naming traditions.

The naming story behind Mei

One of the source’s documented entries for Mei records a meaning of beautiful or Chinese plum.

Mei 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 bud, sprout, rely on, life, clothing, garment.

Dictionary etymologyReferences, data & attribution

From Mandarin 美 (měi, “beautiful”), a common Chinese given name among women.

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

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Origin, language, and formation

Mei is used in English and Hawaiian. Its origins include Mandarin and English.

Mei comes through Mandarin 美.

Pronunciation and spelling

In English, Mei is pronounced /meɪ/.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 1,859 girls were recorded with the name Mei between 1947 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 117 in 2025; its best national rank was #1,744 in 2025.

Over 5 years its rank rose, from #2,619 in 2020 to #1,744 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank rose, from #3,576 in 2015 to #1,744 in 2025.

How common is Mei?

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

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 28,300
117 of 3,315,165 births
Among girls only
1 in 13,700
<0.01% of girls
Rank, 2025
#1,744
of 17,293 girls’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
19,641 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Mei 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 5002%

Put another way: gather 19,641 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Mei. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Meis were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Mei was born before 2011 — so the typical Mei is around 14 today.

Median birth year
2011
About 14 years old
Biggest decade
2010s
26.0% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
70.5%
A modern name
Recorded since 1950
1,841
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

2010s — 26.0% of all recorded uses (483).

Is Mei 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
+217
Places climbed
Rank vs 5 years ago
+875
Places climbed
Rank vs 10 years ago
+1,832
Places climbed
Births vs 10 years ago
2.66×
More babies than then
Share of its own peak
100.0%
Peak was 2025 (117)
Years since peak
Peaking now
At its all-time high
Year-to-year steadiness
Shifting
19.0% average annual change
Best rank ever
#1,744
2025

Where Mei is used

Across 2016–2025, Mei was most concentrated in Hawaii — about 1 in 5,000 girls, against 1 in 27,074 across all states with data. It was least common in Virginia (1 in 100,000).

120 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1Hawaii1 in 5,000
  2. 2California1 in 12,500
  3. 3Washington1 in 14,286
  4. 4New York1 in 33,333
  5. 5Utah1 in 33,333
  6. 6Arizona1 in 50,000
  7. 7Texas1 in 50,000
  8. 8Florida1 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.

Mei around the world

Where Mei 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
    #2,138
    in 2025
  • Scotland
    1977–1977
    #448
    in 1977
  • Ireland
    2019–2019
    #871
    in 2019
  • France
    1982–2025
    #798
    in 2025
  • Canada
    1991–2024
    #3,027
    in 2024
  • South Australia
    1965–2013
    #818
    in 2013

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

Mei by the numbers

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

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
#1,744
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Up 875
Best rank ever
#1,744
2025
Peak year
2025
117 that year
First recorded
1947
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
1,859
Count in 2025
117

Names similar to Mei

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

MeiraMeilaMeikaMeiliMeiaMeilyMeilaniMeilinMeishaMeilynMeilingMeilahAmeiMeiahMeighanMeikoMeilanyMeiganMeiomiMeiyaMeitalMeilynnMeikeMeilee

Sibling names for Mei

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 Mei

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