Mei
A feminine name of Chinese origin meaning "beautiful, plum blossom".
Name Census estimates that about 1,686 living Americans carry the first name Mei. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Mei today is around 20 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Mei births was 2024 (101 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Mei. 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 Mei with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
1.7K
~ 1 in 203,294 Americans
Peak year
2024
101 babies that year
Average age
20
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,960
Tracked since 1947
Census
Mei in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 11,591 people with the first name Mei, which placed it at #2,249 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
#2,249
National first-name rank
People counted
12K
11,591 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
3.8
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
92.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Mei
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Mei is Asian/Pacific Islander at 92.1%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (3.7%) and White (2.1%). 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 Mei 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 Mei at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander92.1% · 10,670
- Two or more races3.7% · 431
- White2.1% · 245
- Hispanic or Latino1.6% · 181
- Black or African American0.5% · 57
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.1% · 7
Popularity
Mei: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Mei from the 1940s through to the 2020s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 482 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Mei remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Mei 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 Mei during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Meis live
The SSA's state-level files cover 10 states and territories. California, New York, Texas recorded the most babies named Mei, while Virginia, Hawaii, Georgia recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 58 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Mei
The name Mei is of Chinese origin, derived from the Chinese character 美, which means "beautiful" or "lovely." It is a popular name in various East Asian cultures, particularly in China, Japan, and Korea.
The earliest recorded use of the name Mei dates back to ancient China, where it was commonly used as a feminine given name. It was often associated with beauty, grace, and elegance, reflecting the cultural values and aesthetics of the time.
In Chinese literature, the name Mei has been mentioned in various classical texts and poems, often describing beautiful women or personifying the concept of beauty itself. One notable example is the famous poem "Song of Unending Sorrow" by Bai Juyi, written during the Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD), which features a character named Mei.
Throughout history, several notable women have borne the name Mei. One of the earliest recorded figures was Mei Sheng (fl. 510-521 AD), a renowned poet and calligrapher during the Southern and Northern Dynasties period in China. Another prominent figure was Mei Ren (1073-1094), a celebrated beauty and imperial concubine during the Song Dynasty.
In Japan, the name Mei has been used since ancient times and is often written using the same Chinese character 美. One famous Japanese bearer of the name was Mei Shuren (1683-1758), a renowned Noh actor and playwright during the Edo period.
Korean culture also embraced the name Mei, often spelled as Mi or Mee. One notable Korean figure was Mee Un-suk (1918-2017), a pioneering feminist writer and activist who fought for women's rights and gender equality in South Korea.
Beyond East Asia, the name Mei has also been used in various other cultures and languages, although its origins can be traced back to the Chinese character. For instance, in Vietnamese, the name is spelled as My, and in Thai, it is written as ม่าย (Mai).
Regardless of its cultural context, the name Mei has consistently been associated with beauty, grace, and elegance, reflecting the universal appreciation for these qualities across different societies and traditions.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Mei
People
Mei + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Mei 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
Mei: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Mei?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,686 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Mei 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 203,294 US residents.
Is Mei a common name?
We classify Mei as "Rare". It ranks above 93% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,741 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Mei most popular?
The single biggest year for Mei was 2024, when 101 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Mei is about 20 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Mei in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 11,591 people with the name Mei, or 3.84 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #2,249 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 Mei 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 Mei?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Mei leans strongly female. 11,344 people counted with this name were female (97.8%), compared with 252 male bearers (2.2%). 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 Mei?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Mei is Asian/Pacific Islander at 92.1%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (3.7%) and White (2.1%). 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 Mei most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Mei in the 2020 Census, accounting for 92.1% (10,670 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 Mei in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Mei a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Mei 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 Mei still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Mei 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 Mei 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 Mei?
For a quick modern take, check how many Americans are named Mei on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org.