Mae

Spellings & scripts●

Locally spelled Ma in US United States, BR Brazil, ES Spain, 마 in KR South Korea and Maé in FR France.

Spellings marked ● are how people bearing the name write it in our records; ○ marks a model's transliteration. Click a spelling to open its page.

Meaning & origin●

Attested across 29 languages in the etymology graph.

Languages●

Language is read off each record's context, not declared by the bearer; a share is of all records for this spelling.

Other names spelled this way◐

Mae is also recorded as 5 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• Spanish given name455K records spelled Mae36 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Philippines, United States, Brazil, Argentina

  Languages: Spanish, Portuguese, Italian

  Also written Maé, Mäe, Mäë, Maê, Mäê

• a separate given name194K records spelled Mae5 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, United Kingdom, Philippines, Canada

  Also written Mãe, Maé, Maė, Mäe

• Indonesian given name55K records spelled Mae7 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Philippines, Indonesia, United States, Malaysia

  Languages: Indonesian, Malay, Malagasy

  Also written Ma'E, Maé

• English given name12K records spelled Mae183 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Malaysia, Australia, Hong Kong

  Languages: English, Chinese, Spanish

  Also written Mei, Meiling, May, Mei Ling, Mei-Ling

• Finnish given name6.3K records spelled Mae13 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Finland, Hungary, United States, Philippines

  Languages: Finnish, Hungarian, Estonian

  Also written Mäe, Máé, Màë, Mäè, Mâè

62 further groups record this spelling and are not listed here.

Grouping is the name graph's, not a register's: two spellings join a group when the evidence links them, so a group is a claim about the records rather than about the people.

Other recorded senses●

Mae is also recorded in 5 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.

• In English, Diminutive of Margaret.

  as a word·kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

• In Spanish, dude, guy, man

  as a word·kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

• In French, Forme américaine de Marie; parfois considéré comme un diminutif de Maëlle.

  as a name·Le grand guide des prénoms (Enfant - Education)

• a variant of Maryam,

  as a name·Whats in a name = Unaitwaje a Swahili book of names

• In Japanese, unexplained.

  as a name·Dictionary of American Family Names

Ordered by how much of this spelling's record each language holds, so a sense from a language the name is barely used in sits last rather than first.

Over time●

US SSA — National Baby Names (1880–present) — 146 years between 1880–2025. One register's own figures, never a sum across registers: two registers counting the same people would double them.

Notable people with this name●

• Mae Westb. 1893USAmerican actress, singer, screenwriter, and writer (1893–1980)
• Mae Marshb. 1894USAmerican actress (1894-1968)
• Eartha Kittb. 1927USnot in their usual nameAmerican singer and actress (1927–2008)
• Shirley Jonesb. 1934USnot in their usual nameAmerican singer and actress
• Tina Turnerb. 1939CHnot in their usual nameAmerican-born Swiss singer and songwriter (1939–2023)
• Brenda Leeb. 1944USnot in their usual nameAmerican singer and recording artist (born 1944)
• Mae Jemisonb. 1956USAmerican doctor and NASA astronaut
• Colleen Ballingerb. 1986USnot in their usual nameAmerican comedian, singer, actress, writer and media personality
• Mae Whitmanb. 1988USAmerican actress
• Mae Mullerb. 1997GBBritish singer

The ten people covered by the most Wikipedia language editions — a proxy for cross-cultural notability, which favours historical and Western figures over equally prominent contemporary ones — shown by birth year. Source: Wikidata (CC0).

Evidence●

Register rows as of the 2026-09-12 data build · 602 rows in the corpus for this spelling.

Frequently asked questions

How common is the name Mae?

We estimate roughly 39 thousand people bear Mae (counting its spellings and scripts) across 10 countries in our records.

In which country does Mae have the most bearers?

Mae is most frequently recorded in the Philippines, where it is most often spelled mae.

How common is Mae compared with other names?

In the Philippines, Mae is the 18th most common given name of 462,140 given names recorded there.

Is Mae a male or female name?

Mae is recorded for both men and women. We don't publish a percentage split: a record's gender belongs to the person and is attached to every given name on that record, so names in cultures where a name string also carries a parent's or spouse's given name pick up large cross-gender counts.

What does the name Mae mean?

Recorded meaning: ‘front’ or ‘before’; not common in Japan.