May

Spellings & scripts●

Locally spelled Mi in US United States, IN India, PY Paraguay and 4 more, มะลี in TH Thailand, 미의 in KR South Korea and Mati in LA Laos.

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◐

May is also recorded as 6 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• Spanish surname579K records spelled May85 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Mexico, United States, France, Philippines

  Languages: Spanish, French, Portuguese

  Also written Mäy, Mày, Maÿ, Mây, Mãÿ

• a separate surname92K records spelled May2 spellings in the group

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

  Also written Mây

• Indonesian surname64K records spelled May13 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Malaysia, Indonesia, United States, Philippines

  Languages: Indonesian, Malay

  Also written 'May, May', Mãÿ, Maý, Mäý

• Burmese surname28K records spelled May34 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Myanmar (Burma), Malaysia, United States, Singapore

  Also written Mäÿ, Màý, Mây, Mâý, Maý

• English given name14K records spelled May149 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Thailand, Australia, United Kingdom

  Languages: English, Thai, Khmer

  Also written Mel, แม่, เมย์, Mei, เมย

• English given name10K records spelled May183 spellings in the group

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

  Languages: English, Chinese, Spanish

  Also written Mei, Meiling, Mae, Mei Ling, Mei-Ling

87 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●

May 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, from ME may, 'young lad or girl', or a hypocoristic of Matthew via Maheu/Mayhew; first attested William Mai 1167 P (Nf)

  as a name·A Dictionary of English Surnames

• In German, Short form related to Mei(n)burg; surname type. Bearer counts: Mey- 129, Mei- 121.

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

• In German, From the month name May; refers to May customs/seasonal usage. Bearers: 8,848.

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

• when not of English origin (see 1-3 above), this is an Anglicized form of Gaelic 6 Miadhaigh ‘descendant of MiadhacF, a personal name or byname meaning ‘honorable’, ‘proud’.

  as a name·Dictionary of American Family Names

• nickname from Middle English may ‘young man or woman’.

  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●

• Karl Mayb. 1842DEGerman writer (1842–1912)
• Billy Mayb. 1916USAmerican composer, arranger and trumpeter (1916–2004)
• Elaine Mayb. 1932USAmerican screenwriter, film director, actress, and comedian (b. 1932)
• Brian Mayb. 1947GBBritish musician (born 1947)
• Mary Simonb. 1947CAnot in their usual nameGovernor General of Canada 2021-2025
• Jeannie Berlinb. 1949USnot in their usual nameAmerican actress
• Theresa Mayb. 1956GBPrime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2016 to 2019
• James Mayb. 1963GBEnglish television presenter and journalist
• Fiona Mayb. 1969GBBritish-born Italian long jumper
• Jodhi Mayb. 1975GBBritish actress

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 · 1,173 rows in the corpus for this spelling.

Frequently asked questions

How common is the name May?

We estimate roughly 202 thousand people bear May (counting its spellings and scripts) across 12 countries in our records.

In which country does May have the most bearers?

We estimate about 103 thousand people bear May in the United States, more than in any other country in our records, where it is most often spelled mi.

How common is May compared with other names?

In the United States, May is the 249th most common surname of 7,257,200 surnames recorded there.

What does the name May mean?

Recorded meaning: From a nickname/personal name based on May; also from Matthew, Middle English may ‘young person’, or a Jewish name from Yiddish may ‘lilac’.