Mai

Spellings & scripts●

Locally spelled Mikey in NL Netherlands, FI Finland, IE Ireland and 1 more, Mui in MY Malaysia, HK Hong Kong, SG Singapore and ไหม in TH Thailand.

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 28 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◐

Mai is also recorded as 8 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• a separate surname244K records spelled Mai34 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Vietnam, United States, Malaysia, United Kingdom

  Also written Mại, Màí, Maï, Màï, Màį

• Japanese surname91K records spelled Mai4 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Japan, Pakistan, Nigeria, United States

  Also written Mãi, Maï, Ma-I

• Urdu surname73K records spelled Mai5 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Pakistan, India, Nigeria, United States

  Languages: Urdu, Hindi

  Also written Maï, Mâî, Mãi

• Spanish surname67K records spelled Mai71 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in France, United States, Brazil, Argentina

  Languages: Spanish, French, Portuguese

  Also written Maï, Maí, Mài, Mâî, Måï

• a separate surname50K records spelled Mai10 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, India, China, United Kingdom

  Also written Maï, Mãi, Mai͏̈, Maī, Mại

• Danish surname16K records spelled Mai10 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Denmark, Norway, United States, United Kingdom

  Languages: Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian

  Also written Maí, Mãi, Måį, Mâi

• Indonesian surname12K records spelled Mai7 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Indonesia, Malaysia, Nigeria, United States

  Languages: Indonesian, Malay

  Also written Maï, Mäí, Ma'I, Maį, Mãi

• Swahili surname7.7K records spelled Mai7 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Nigeria, United States, Pakistan, India

  Languages: Swahili, Southern Sotho

  Also written Mài, Maï, Mãi

75 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●

Mai 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 German, from Mai ‘May’, likely a poetic or affectionate nickname

  as a name·Deutsche Namenkunde: Unsere Familiennamen nach ihrer Entstehung und Bedeutung

• In German, From the month name May; refers to May customs/seasonal usage. Bearers: 6,118.

  as a name·Deutscher Familiennamenatlas, Band 5: Familiennamen nach Beruf und persönlichen Merkmalen

• In German, Toponymic surname from a dwelling/landscape feature; bearers 16.

  as a name·Deutscher Familiennamenatlas, Band 4: Familiennamen nach Herkunft und Wohnstätte

• In German, from the month name Mai; also from place names

  as a name·Deutsche Namenkunde: Unsere Familiennamen nach ihrer Entstehung und Bedeutung

• In Vietnamese, origin unknown, although ancient accounts record its use in Guangdong and Henan provinces from an early date. The character for Mai also means ‘wheat’.

  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) — 121 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●

• Mi Fub. 1051CNnot in their usual nameChinese artist (1051-1107)
• Mei Lanfangb. 1894CNnot in their usual namePeking opera artist (1894-1961)
• Mei Ju-aob. 1904CNnot in their usual nameChinese jurist, professor, politician, and author (1904-1973)
• Karl Maib. 1928DEGerman footballer (1928–1993)
• Karl Makab. 1944CNnot in their usual nameHong Kong male actor, film director, producer, and screenwriter
• Anita Muib. 1963CNnot in their usual nameHong Kong singer and actress (1963–2003)
• Alan Makb. 1965CNnot in their usual nameHong Kong actor, writer and director
• Mukhtaran Bibib. 1972PKnot in their usual namerape survivor and one of Pakistan's most prominent rights activists [EPA]
• Mei Tingb. 1975CNnot in their usual nameChinese actress
• Juno Makb. 1984CNnot in their usual nameHong Kong actor and 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 · 861 rows in the corpus for this spelling.

Frequently asked questions

How common is the name Mai?

We estimate roughly 21 thousand people bear Mai (counting its spellings and scripts) across 13 countries in our records.

In which country does Mai have the most bearers?

Mai is most frequently recorded in Vietnam, where it is most often spelled mai.

How common is Mai compared with other names?

In Vietnam, Mai is the 19th most common surname of 58,673 surnames recorded there.

What does the name Mai mean?

Recorded meaning: Plg. vok. Matthison : Matthias (M.