Maybelle
A feminine name derived from the combination of "May" and "Belle" meaning "beautiful May flower".
Name Census estimates that about 1,004 living Americans carry the first name Maybelle. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Maybelle today is around 42 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Maybelle births was 1918 (212 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Maybelle. 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 Maybelle with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
1.0K
~ 1 in 341,389 Americans
Peak year
1918
212 babies that year
Average age
42
years old
2024 SSA rank
#4,423
Tracked since 1880
Census
Maybelle in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,370 people with the first name Maybelle, which placed it at #9,919 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
#9,919
National first-name rank
People counted
1.4K
1,370 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
55.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Maybelle
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Maybelle is White at 55.5%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (17.5%) and Black (14.3%). 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 Maybelle 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 Maybelle at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White55.5% · 760
- Asian and Pacific Islander17.5% · 240
- Black or African American14.3% · 196
- Hispanic or Latino6.5% · 89
- Two or more races3.4% · 47
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.8% · 38
Popularity
Maybelle: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Maybelle from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1910s, with 1,553 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
Maybelle 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 Maybelle during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Maybelles live
The SSA's state-level files cover 34 states and territories. South Carolina, Illinois, New York recorded the most babies named Maybelle, while Oregon, Florida, Montana recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 53 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Maybelle
The name Maybelle has its roots in the English language, originating as a combination of the names May and Belle. It emerged during the late 19th century, primarily in the United States and parts of Canada.
The name May has its origins in the Latin word "Maia," which was the name of a Roman goddess associated with spring and fertility. Belle, on the other hand, is a French word meaning "beautiful." Thus, Maybelle can be interpreted as "beautiful May" or "beautiful spring."
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Maybelle dates back to 1886 when Maybelle Addington, an American actress and songwriter, was born. She was known for her work in vaudeville and musical theater in the early 20th century.
Another notable figure with the name Maybelle was Maybelle Carter, born in 1909, who was a pioneering American folk musician and member of the iconic Carter Family. She was renowned for her innovative guitar playing style known as the "Carter scratch," which influenced generations of musicians.
In the world of literature, Maybelle was the name of a character in the 1903 novel "The Graysons" by Edward Eggleston. This work portrayed life in rural Indiana during the late 19th century, further solidifying the name's presence in American culture.
Maybelle Millner, born in 1902, was an American lyric soprano who performed with the Metropolitan Opera in New York City during the 1920s and 1930s. Her career spanned several decades, and she was highly regarded for her vocal talents.
In the realm of sports, Maybelle Efford, born in 1905, was a Canadian badminton player who won numerous national and international titles in the 1920s and 1930s. She was a dominant figure in the sport during her era and helped popularize badminton in Canada.
While the name Maybelle experienced a peak in popularity in the early 20th century, it has since declined in usage but remains a charming and nostalgic name with a rich history rooted in the English language and American culture.
People
Maybelle + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Maybelle 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
Maybelle: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Maybelle?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,004 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Maybelle 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 341,389 US residents.
Is Maybelle a common name?
We classify Maybelle as "Rare". It ranks above 90.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 6,306 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Maybelle most popular?
The single biggest year for Maybelle was 1918, when 212 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Maybelle is about 42 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Maybelle in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,370 people with the name Maybelle, or 0.45 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #9,919 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 Maybelle 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 Maybelle?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Maybelle appears almost entirely female. Of the 1,374 people counted with this name, 99.7% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Maybelle?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Maybelle is White at 55.5%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (17.5%) and Black (14.3%). 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 Maybelle most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Maybelle in the 2020 Census, accounting for 55.5% (760 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 Maybelle in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Maybelle a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Maybelle 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 Maybelle still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Maybelle 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 Maybelle 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 Maybelle?
Find out how many Americans are named Maybelle on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.