Mame
An English feminine name meaning "mother" or "grandmother".
Name Census estimates that about 414 living Americans carry the first name Mame. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Mame today is around 18 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Mame births was 2002 (29 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Mame. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Mame with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
414
~ 1 in 827,909 Americans
Peak year
2002
29 babies that year
Average age
18
years old
2024 SSA rank
#6,809
Tracked since 1880
Census
Mame in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 985 people with the first name Mame, which placed it at #12,585 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#12,585
National first-name rank
People counted
985
985 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
80.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Mame
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Mame is Black at 80.9%. The next largest groups are White (12.4%) and Hispanic (3.8%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Mame described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Mame at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American80.9% · 797
- White12.4% · 122
- Hispanic or Latino3.8% · 37
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.9% · 19
- Two or more races1.0% · 10
Popularity
Mame: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Mame from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 187 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Mame by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Mame during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Mames live
The SSA's state-level files cover 3 states and territories. New York, Georgia, Maryland recorded the most babies named Mame, while Maryland, Georgia, New York recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 31 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Mame
The name Mame has its origins in French culture and language. It is a diminutive form of the French name Marie, which in turn derives from the Hebrew name Miriam. The name Miriam is believed to have been derived from the ancient Egyptian words "mr" meaning "beloved" and "iamm" meaning "sea of bitterness."
In the Middle Ages, the name Mame was a popular French variant of Marie. It was often used as a term of endearment for loved ones, particularly grandmothers. The name gained widespread recognition in the Western world through the novel "Auntie Mame" by Patrick Dennis, published in 1955, and the subsequent Broadway play and film adaptations.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Mame can be found in the 13th-century French poem "Roman de la Rose." In this work, the character of a young woman named Mame is portrayed as a symbol of beauty and virtue.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Mame. Mame Adjoua (1928-2021) was a renowned Ivorian singer and actress, renowned for her contributions to the traditional music of Côte d'Ivoire. Mame Diarra Bousso (1976-) is a Senegalese activist and politician, known for her work in promoting women's rights and gender equality.
Mame Maḥmūd Gāmī (1506-1589) was a Sufi saint and scholar from Gujrat, India, who wrote extensively on Islamic mysticism. Mame Kumba Siddibe (1835-1896) was a Senegalese warrior and leader of the Serer people, renowned for her bravery in battles against French colonial forces.
Mame Ndiayu Mbaye (1951-) is a Senegalese author and academic, recognized for her contributions to Francophone literature and her advocacy for women's education in West Africa.
People
Mame + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Mame as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with M
Other first names starting with M with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Mame: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Mame?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 414 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Mame going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 827,909 US residents.
Is Mame a common name?
We classify Mame as "Very Rare". It ranks above 82.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 649 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Mame most popular?
The single biggest year for Mame was 2002, when 29 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Mame is about 18 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Mame in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 985 people with the name Mame, or 0.33 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #12,585 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Mame in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Mame?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Mame leans strongly female. 814 people counted with this name were female (83.1%), compared with 166 male bearers (16.9%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Mame?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Mame is Black at 80.9%. The next largest groups are White (12.4%) and Hispanic (3.8%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Mame most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Mame in the 2020 Census, accounting for 80.9% (797 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Mame in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Mame a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Mame in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Mame still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Mame in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Mame can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people have the name Mame?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.