Masterpiece Generator Name Generator
How popular is the name May?
Births per year, rank history and how many Mays are alive today.
May (female), once a common girls' name, is now an uncommon choice for new babies in England and Wales, ranked 610th in 2025 with 64 given the name. This spelling of the name peaked in 1904, when around 3,000 babies were given the name, the 28th most popular that year. It has declined since 1904; the 2025 figure is roughly 2% of its peak. Numbers have been stable in recent years. At least 63,000 babies have been named May, counting all spellings, in England and Wales since 1904. Figures before 1996 are estimates. May is one spelling of a name also recorded as Mae; the combined figures below cover every spelling. May is also a common short form of Mary, so many people called May are registered under the longer name.
Across all spellings of the name, the May you are most likely to meet is around 18 years old - or else around 72: the name has two living generations. Half of all Mays born in England and Wales are between 23 and 75, and there are at least 15,000 of them alive today. If you walk into a room of 100 females, there's roughly a 4.7% chance that at least one of them will be called May.
How many babies are named May each year?
Includes all spellings: May, Mae. Figures before 1996 are estimates.
Where does the May spelling rank?
Where does the Mae spelling rank?
Where this data comes from
Figures from 1996 onwards are the Office for National Statistics' annual baby-name registrations for England and Wales, which record every name given to three or more babies in a year. Figures before 1996 are estimates: the ONS published only top-100 rankings at ten-year intervals back to 1904, so counts for those years are modelled from the rankings, calibrated against Douglas Galbi's long-run research into English name frequencies, and shown with an uncertainty band. Estimates of living bearers combine these birth figures with national life tables and ONS mid-year population estimates.
One limit worth naming: these figures count names as registered at birth. Anyone who changes their name later in life - including trans people, and anyone who adopts a different name by deed poll or simply by use - is not reflected here. Birth registrations record where a name began, not the name a person lives with.
Common questions
When was the name May most popular?
May peaked in 1904, when around 3,000 babies in England and Wales were given the name across all spellings.
How many people are called May?
At least 15,000 people named May in any spelling born in England and Wales are alive today.
How old is the typical May?
Most living Mays are between 23 and 75; the most common age is about 18. There is a second cluster around 72.
Is May becoming more or less popular?
Well past its peak: today's figures are a fraction of the 1904 peak, though numbers have levelled off in recent years.