May
A feminine name of Latin origin meaning "the month of May".
Name Census estimates that about 9,801 living Americans carry the first name May. It is a predominantly female name (98.6% of registrations). The average person named May today is around 49 years old, and the year with the single highest number of May births was 1919 (991 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for May. 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 May with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although May is used almost entirely for girls, the SSA data does show 699 boys registered with the name since 1880.
People living today
9.8K
~ 1 in 34,971 Americans
Peak year
1919
991 babies that year
Average age
49
years old
1996 SSA rank
#1,357
Tracked since 1880
Census
May in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 22,047 people with the first name May, which placed it at #1,507 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
#1,507
National first-name rank
People counted
22K
22,047 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
7.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
49.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for May
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named May is Asian/Pacific Islander at 49.3%. The next largest groups are White (33.4%) and Black (9.5%). 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 May 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 May at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander49.3% · 10,876
- White33.4% · 7,363
- Black or African American9.5% · 2,094
- Hispanic or Latino4.5% · 999
- Two or more races2.6% · 568
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.7% · 147
Gender
Gender distribution for May
May leans heavily female at 98.6% of total registrations, but 699 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
May as a male name
- Ranked #8,623 in 1996
- 6 male births in 1996
- Peak: 1925 (22 births)
May as a female name
- Ranked #1,357 in 2024
- 168 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1919 (981 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, May leans strongly female. 21,515 people counted with this name were female (97.6%), compared with 530 male bearers (2.4%).
Popularity
May: popularity over time
The SSA tracks May from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 8,304 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1920s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
May 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 May during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Mays live
The SSA's state-level files cover 49 states and territories. New York, California, Texas recorded the most babies named May, while New Hampshire, New Mexico, Wyoming recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 524 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of May
The name May is a feminine given name of English origin. It is derived from the name of the month May, which comes from the Roman goddess Maia, who was the daughter of Faunus and Fatua. Maia was an ancient Roman goddess of fertility, warmth, and springtime.
The name May has been in use since the Middle Ages, though it was not particularly common until the 19th century. One of the earliest known bearers of the name was May de Badlesmere, an English noblewoman who lived in the 13th century.
In medieval literature, the name May was often associated with the season of spring and the blossoming of flowers. The name appears in several works of literature from this period, including the 14th-century poem "The Cuckoo and the Nightingale" by Sir Geoffrey Chaucer.
During the Victorian era, the name May became increasingly popular in England and the United States. This was likely due to the romantic and floral associations of the name, which aligned with the sentimental values of the time.
One of the most famous historical figures named May was May Cartwright, an English noble and benefactor who lived from 1610 to 1680. Another notable bearer of the name was May Alcott, the youngest sister of author Louisa May Alcott, who lived from 1840 to 1879.
In the 20th century, May was a popular name in both the United States and the United Kingdom. One of the most famous women named May was May Whitty, an English actress who lived from 1865 to 1948 and won an Academy Award for her role in the film "Mrs. Miniver."
Another notable May was May Robson, an Australian-born American actress who lived from 1858 to 1942 and was known for her roles in films such as "Lady for a Day" and "Dinner at Eight."
Finally, May Wong, also known as Anna May Wong, was a Chinese-American actress who lived from 1905 to 1961 and was one of the first Asian-American actresses to gain international fame.
People
May + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with May 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
May: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named May?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 9,801 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for May 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 34,971 US residents.
Is May a common name?
We classify May as "Rare". It ranks above 97.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 49,915 babies have been registered with this name.
When was May most popular?
The single biggest year for May was 1919, when 991 babies received the name. The fact that the average living May is about 49 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was May in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 22,047 people with the name May, or 7.30 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,507 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 May 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 May?
In the 2020 Census sex table, May leans strongly female. 21,515 people counted with this name were female (97.6%), compared with 530 male bearers (2.4%). 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 May?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named May is Asian/Pacific Islander at 49.3%. The next largest groups are White (33.4%) and Black (9.5%). 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 May most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named May in the 2020 Census, accounting for 49.3% (10,876 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 May in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is May a female name?
Yes, 98.6% of people registered as May 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 May still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded May 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 May 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 common is the name May?
See how many people have the name May on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.