May
Featured in baby name books
May is linked to Margaret, with the meaning “pearl,” and to Mary, with the meaning “bitter.” May is also the name of the spring month, and month names like May were very fashionable for girls in the 1920s. In Spider-Man comics, Aunt May is Peter Parker’s kindly widowed aunt. May Wirth was a circus star who became the world’s greatest bareback rider, famed for blindfolded leaps onto galloping horses.
Sources: Baby Names (Laura Emerson), Baby Names Made Easy, The Best Baby Names for Girls, Numerology for Baby Names, 10,000 Baby Names, Baby Names Your Child Can Live With, The Everything Baby Names Book, Sci-Fi Baby Names, Badass Baby Names
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Usage of May in different languages / cultures
The list below was created by gathering names from various sources for different languages, and then matching May against each list of names.
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Albanian
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Arabic
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Armenian
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Bengali
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Bulgarian
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Catalan
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Chinese
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Cornish
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Croatian
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Czech
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Danish
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Dothraki
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Dutch
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English
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Estonian
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Filipino
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Finnish
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French
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Georgian
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German
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Greek
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Hawaiian
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Hebrew
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Hindi
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Hungarian
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Icelandic
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Indonesian
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Irish
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Italian
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Japanese
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Khmer
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Klingon
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Korean
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Latin
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Latvian
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Lithuanian
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Macedonian
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Norwegian
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Persian
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Polish
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Portuguese
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Romanian
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Russian
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Scottish
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Serbian
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Slovak
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Slovenian
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Spanish
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Swahili
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Swedish
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Telugu
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Thai
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Turkish
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Ukrainian
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Vietnamese
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Welsh
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Yiddish
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Yoruba
Note: In some cases it is possible for the check mark to be missing even if May is used in a particular country, as almost no source name list has 100% coverage.
May in official name statistics
United States
In 2025, 183 girls were named May, making it the #1229 girls' name in the US. Since 1880, 49,400 girls have been named May, with the most (981) in 1919. It is most common, relative to births, in Oregon, Washington and Utah.
Source: Social Security Administration baby name data, 1880–2025. Names given to fewer than 5 babies in a year are not listed.
Other countries
Counts are babies born that year, or living people for "all ages" rows, as published by each country's statistics office or population register.
May in other languages
- Mai Estonian, Welsh
- Maj Icelandic, Swedish
- Maie Estonian
- مي Arabic
May name days
- May 7 Norway
Source: Wikidata (CC0).
Storms named May
Tropical storms, hurricanes, typhoons and cyclones that have been named May, newest first.
| Storm | Year | Ocean | Peak wind |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tropical storm May | 1998 | South Pacific | 74 km/h |
Source: IBTrACS, NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information. Peak wind is the highest sustained wind recorded for the storm.
Towns named May
There are 377 towns and villages with May in their name, in 37 countries.
🇳🇪 Niger 107🇻🇳 Vietnam 44🇪🇹 Ethiopia 39🇺🇸 United States 32🇪🇷 Eritrea 20🇷🇺 Russia 18🇲🇲 Myanmar 17🇲🇽 Mexico 12
| Name | Where | Population | |
|---|---|---|---|
| May Pen | Clarendon, 🇯🇲 Jamaica | 44,755 | Map |
| May Cadera | Tigray, 🇪🇹 Ethiopia | 27,300 | Map |
| 28 May | Abşeron, 🇦🇿 Azerbaijan | 7,100 | Map |
| Cape May | New Jersey, 🇺🇸 United States | 3,514 | Map |
| May | Gujarat, 🇮🇳 India | 2,523 | Map |
| May Creek | Washington, 🇺🇸 United States | 818 | Map |
| Uh May | Quintana Roo, 🇲🇽 Mexico | 480 | Map |
| El May | San Luis Potosí, 🇲🇽 Mexico | 313 | Map |
| Bol-May | Yucatán, 🇲🇽 Mexico | 312 | Map |
| Point May | Newfoundland and Labrador, 🇨🇦 Canada | 254 | Map |
Source: GeoNames (CC BY 4.0). Maps: OpenStreetMap.
Lakes named May
There are 75 lakes and reservoirs with May in their name, in 6 countries.
🇺🇸 United States 38🇨🇦 Canada 32🇸🇩 Sudan 2🇦🇺 Australia 1🇪🇹 Ethiopia 1🇫🇷 France 1
| Name | Where | |
|---|---|---|
| Lac May | Quebec, 🇨🇦 Canada | Map |
| Lac May | Quebec, 🇨🇦 Canada | Map |
| Lake May | New South Wales, 🇦🇺 Australia | Map |
| Lake May | Alberta, 🇨🇦 Canada | Map |
| Lake May | Florida, 🇺🇸 United States | Map |
| Lake May | Michigan, 🇺🇸 United States | Map |
| Lake May | Minnesota, 🇺🇸 United States | Map |
| Lake May | Washington, 🇺🇸 United States | Map |
| May Bahir | Amhara, 🇪🇹 Ethiopia | Map |
| May Lake | Ontario, 🇨🇦 Canada | Map |
Source: GeoNames (CC BY 4.0). Maps: OpenStreetMap.
May songs
2 songs and musical works on Wikidata have May in their title. The best known:
Song data: Wikidata (CC0), ordered by how widely each song is covered on Wikipedia.
Celebrities named May
Based on celebrities listed on Wikipedia, filtered to only those with the first name May.
May Andersen
May Britt
May Chidiac
May Pang
Fictional characters named May
Characters from films and TV series, from Wikidata, ordered by how widely they are covered on Wikipedia.
Character data: Wikidata (CC0). Images: Wikimedia Commons; click an image for its author and licence.
May as a pet name
FurryName has found 134 dogs named May in public pet registers, making it the #1,065 dog name there. Most of them are registered in Golden Plains Shire (3), Miranda (2), Burlington (1). May as a dog name →
FurryName has found 9 cats named May in public pet registers, making it the #1,135 cat name there. Most of them are registered in Seattle (3), Corangamite Shire (1), Tacoma (1). May as a cat name →
May products
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May name mug
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May tumbler
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May cap
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May t-shirt
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May necklace
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May bracelet
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May keychain
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May ornament
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May baby blanket
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May name puzzle
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May wall sign
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May pillow
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