# Mai (surname)

Source: https://namelineage.com/surname/mai/  
Publisher: Name Lineage. Counts from the US Census Bureau; origin and etymology from Wiktionary; bearers from Wikidata. Data updated 2026-11-11.

A surname from Chinese of Chinese or German origin.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Origin | Chinese |
| Type | not recorded |
| People in the US (2010 Census) | 17,445 |
| US rank (2010) | 2,075 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 17,698 people |
| Change since 2000 | +45% (12,027 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | not recorded |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |

## 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.

## Who carries it

Share of people named Mai in the 2010 US Census by the Census's own race and ethnicity groups. The Census suppresses a share when the count behind it is small.

| Group | Share |
|---|---|
| White (not Hispanic) | 11% |
| Black (not Hispanic) | 0.6% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 1.1% |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | 85% |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 0.1% |
| Two or more races | 1.4% |

## Where

Wikidata records people named Mai in the United States.

## People named Mai

- Dominic Mai Thanh Lương, Auxiliary bishop of Orange in California
- Jeannie Mai Jenkins, American television host and stylist
- Mai Tai Sing, actor (1923-2018)

## Similar surnames

May, Ma, Mao, Mau, Mah, Miah, Maio, Miao, Maia, Maw, Mayo, Moya.

## How to read these numbers

A Census count is people alive and counted in 2010, not births, and names occurring fewer than 100 times are not published at all. Ethnicity shares are the Census's own categories.