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Shem Tov · Hebrew names

Girl's nameOrigin: of mixed originIn Israel: falling

MayIn Hebrew: מאי · meaning, pronunciation and popularity in Israel

With vowel points: מַאיRomanization: may

May (Hebrew: מאי) is a girl's name of mixed origin. 12,485 people born in Israel between 1949 and 2024 have it today, according to Israel's Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS). In 2024 it was given to 107 girls and ranked #165. Its peak year was 2000, with 617 babies.

People in Israel
12,485
born 1949–2024
Babies in 2024
107
rank #165
Peak year
2000
617 babies
USA, 2025
183
rank #1,229

Writing and saying May

In Hebrew letters the name is מאי, read right to left. May is the Latin spelling recorded by our review; families choose their own spelling in passports, so you may also meet other forms. Wiktionary romanizes it as "may" (the accent marks the stressed syllable).

Meaning and origin

  • May (the fifth month of the Gregorian calendar, following April and preceding June)
  • a female given name
From German Mai, from Latin Māius (“Maia's month”), from Maia, a Roman earth goddess, possibly from Proto-Indo-European *magya (“she who is great”), from Proto-Indo-European *méǵh₂s (“great”).

Quoted from English Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0), unchanged.

May by year: Israel and abroad

How many girls out of every 10,000 born each year have the name. For Israel it counts the people born that year who carry the name today (the CBS counts residents by year of birth, not birth registrations).

May: rate per 10,000, 1950–2025

per 10,000 babies of the same sex

May in English-speaking countries

May in each official list: latest year, count, rank and peak
Country / regionYearBabiesRankPeak
United States2025183#1,2291919 (981)
United Kingdom202575#5692010 (138)
England and Wales202564#6102007 (137)
Scotland202511#3012025 (11)
Ireland20254#6922017 (16)
British Columbia20235#5901931 (20)

Counts for girls. The Hebrew page for May has every year and the other spellings.

Questions about May

How do you write May in Hebrew?

May is written מאי in Hebrew (with vowel points: מַאי). Hebrew is read right to left. A dictionary romanization is "may".

How many people in Israel are named May?

12,485 people born between 1949 and 2024 carry the name מאי: 12,119 women and 366 men. The count comes from the CBS table of current first names by year of birth; years with fewer than 5 people are not published.

Is May a boy's or a girl's name?

In Israel it is almost always a girl's name: 97.1% of the people named מאי are women.

What does the name May mean?

English Wiktionary describes it as: "May (the fifth month of the Gregorian calendar, following April and preceding June)" Etymology: From German Mai, from Latin Māius (“Maia's month”), from Maia, a Roman earth goddess, possibly from Proto-Indo-European *magya (“she who is great”), from Proto-Indo-European *méǵh₂s (“great”).

Is May used outside Israel?

The name May appears in the official baby name lists of English-speaking countries. In the United States 183 girls were given it in 2025 (#1,229), per the Social Security Administration. In the UK 75 in 2025 (ONS, NRS and NISRA combined).

Sources

Israel: Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), current first names of people born 1949–2024 by sex, population group and year of birth, processed 2026-09-27. CBS publications.

Abroad

Counts are copied as published. We only merged accented spellings (Zoë = Zoe) and computed ranks and rates. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – British Columbia and the Open Government Licence – Alberta.