Maie
A short form of Mary, of Hebrew derivation meaning "bitter" or "beloved".
Name Census estimates that about 3 living Americans carry the first name Maie. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Maie today is around 107 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Maie births was 1921 (11 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Maie. 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.
Key insights
- • The typical person named Maie is about 107 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Maies were born before 1929.
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Maie. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
3
~ 1 in 114,251,446 Americans
Peak year
1921
11 babies that year
Average age
107
years old
1935 SSA rank
#4,635
Tracked since 1885
Census
Maie in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 187 people with the first name Maie, which placed it at #40,012 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
#40,012
National first-name rank
People counted
187
187 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
63.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Maie
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Maie is White at 63.6%. The next largest groups are Black (17.1%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (11.2%). 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 Maie 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 Maie at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White63.6% · 119
- Black or African American17.1% · 32
- Asian and Pacific Islander11.2% · 21
- Hispanic or Latino5.9% · 11
- Two or more races2.1% · 4
Popularity
Maie: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Maie from the 1880s through to the 1930s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1910s, with 52 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1910s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Maie 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 Maie during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Maies live
Origin
Meaning and history of Maie
The given name Maie is believed to have its origins in the Old French language, with roots tracing back to the late medieval period around the 12th century. It is considered a feminine form of the male name "Mai" or "May," which itself is derived from the Latin name "Maius" or "Majus," meaning "the great one."
The name Maie was particularly popular in France and parts of northern Europe during the Middle Ages. It was often associated with the month of May, which was celebrated as a time of renewal and fertility in many European cultures. The name may have been given to girls born during this month, or as a nod to the symbolic significance of the season.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Maie can be found in the medieval French epic poem "The Song of Roland," which dates back to the late 11th century. In this work, Maie is mentioned as the name of a character, suggesting its use as a personal name during that era.
Throughout history, several notable figures have borne the name Maie. One example is Maie de Lusignan (c. 1234-1317), a French noblewoman who was the Countess of Angoulême and a member of the influential Lusignan family. Another is Maie de la Mère (fl. 1292), a French aristocrat and landowner during the late 13th century.
In the realm of literature, Maie appears as the name of a character in the 14th-century French romance "Le Roman de la Rose," a significant work of medieval courtly literature. This further attests to the name's presence and usage during that period.
Moving forward in time, Maie Giraudon (1836-1916) was a French actress and playwright active in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, known for her contributions to the Parisian theater scene. Another notable figure was Maie Lacaze-Buteau (1832-1910), a French painter and sculptor who exhibited her works at the prestigious Paris Salon.
While the name Maie has fallen out of common usage in many parts of the world, it remains a unique and historically significant name, serving as a window into the linguistic and cultural traditions of medieval Europe, particularly France and the surrounding regions.
People
Maie + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Maie 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
Maie: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Maie?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 3 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Maie 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 114,251,446 US residents.
Is Maie a common name?
We classify Maie as "Very Rare". It ranks above 4.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 197 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Maie most popular?
The single biggest year for Maie was 1921, when 11 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Maie is about 107 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Maie in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 187 people with the name Maie, or 0.06 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #40,012 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 Maie 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 Maie?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Maie leans strongly female. 180 people counted with this name were female (93.8%), compared with 12 male bearers (6.3%). 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 Maie?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Maie is White at 63.6%. The next largest groups are Black (17.1%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (11.2%). 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 Maie most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Maie in the 2020 Census, accounting for 63.6% (119 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 Maie in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Maie a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Maie 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 Maie still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Maie 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 Maie 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 are named Maie?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.