Mae
Pronounced M EY1 (ARPABET)
- 1 syllable
- Peaked 1918
- 145 years in use
- 4 spellings
How popular is Mae?
Mae is a girls' name, and has been in the record since the data starts in 1880. It has been given to 167,178 children — the 255th most common girls' name on record.
It peaked in 1918, went quiet for most of a century, and is climbing again. Its best single year was 1918, when 3,758 children were given it.
Four other spellings are counted in that total — May, Maye, Mei and one more — because they are pronounced identically.
Spelling variants
These spellings sound identical to Mae and are counted together with it, which is why the totals here are higher than a single-spelling count.
- May
- Maye
- Mei
- Mey
Nicknames
Mae is itself a short form of Mary.
Characteristics
- 1 syllable
Phonetic detail
- Pronunciations:
- M EY1
- Stress pattern:
- 1
- Syllables:
- 1
Stress digits mark unstressed (0), primary (1) and secondary (2) syllables.
Names like Mae
Same first letter and syllable count, peaking around the same time.
Sibling names for Mae
Names from the same era with a matching rhythm but a different initial.
Frequently asked questions
- How popular is the name Mae?
- Mae ranks 255th among girls' names in US records, with 167,178 births since 1880. Over the past decade it accounts for 7,643.
- Is Mae a unisex name?
- No. Mae is recorded almost entirely as a girls' name; births to the other gender are too few to register as a share.
- When was Mae most popular?
- 1918, when 3,758 children were given the name. It has been in use for 145 years and is still recorded as of 2024.
- How else is Mae spelled?
- May, Maye, Mei, Mey. All of these sound the same and are counted together in the totals on this page.