# Mai (first name)

Source: https://namelineage.com/first-name/mai/  
Publisher: Name Lineage. US counts from the Social Security Administration; England and Wales counts from the Office for National Statistics; meaning and etymology from Wiktionary. Data updated 2026-11-11.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Usually given to | girls |
| Origin | not recorded |
| Meaning | “wheat”, “buy” |
| Pronunciation | not recorded |
| Nicknames | none recorded |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |
| US babies named this | 5,697 since 1880 |
| Boys / girls in the US | 20 / 5,677 (100% girls) |
| Babies in England and Wales | 563, 1996 to 2025 |

## Etymology

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.

## Popularity

The last 15 years of each series. A year is missing when too few babies were given the name for the agency to publish it: five in the US, three in England and Wales.

### United States, girls

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 61 | 2,857 |
| 2012 | 55 | 3,070 |
| 2013 | 55 | 3,031 |
| 2014 | 55 | 3,066 |
| 2015 | 46 | 3,460 |
| 2016 | 49 | 3,311 |
| 2017 | 34 | 4,277 |
| 2018 | 53 | 3,087 |
| 2019 | 50 | 3,205 |
| 2020 | 48 | 3,257 |
| 2021 | 58 | 2,910 |
| 2022 | 55 | 3,017 |
| 2023 | 51 | 3,210 |
| 2024 | 49 | 3,261 |
| 2025 | 55 | 3,016 |

### United States, boys

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 1984 | 5 | 6,950 |
| 1985 | 9 | 4,552 |
| 1989 | 6 | 7,553 |

### England and Wales, girls

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 26 | 1,225 |
| 2012 | 16 | 1,809 |
| 2013 | 14 | 1,956 |
| 2014 | 16 | 1,798 |
| 2015 | 19 | 1,601 |
| 2016 | 12 | 2,233 |
| 2017 | 16 | 1,817 |
| 2018 | 16 | 1,788 |
| 2019 | 8 | 2,869 |
| 2020 | 9 | 2,615 |
| 2021 | 12 | 2,201 |
| 2022 | 10 | 2,488 |
| 2023 | 11 | 2,346 |
| 2024 | 17 | 1,743 |
| 2025 | 19 | 1,584 |

## People named Mai

- Mai Thi Nguyen-Kim, German chemist, science journalist and television presenter
- Mai Narva, Estonian chess player (born 1999)
- Mai Mercado, Danish politician
- Mai Villadsen, Danish politician
- Eve-Mai Maurer, Estonian swimmer (1936-2026)
- Maret-Mai Otsa, Estonian basketball player and sports pedagogue (1931-2020)
- Mai Kivelä, Finnish politician and activist
- Ma, Egyptian actress

## How to read these numbers

A count is babies registered with that name in that year, not people alive now, so a name common a century ago can have a large total and few recent births.