May · Shortlist Together

Meaning

We don’t have a verified meaning for May.

We only publish meanings we can cite to a source you could check yourself. Most sites will give you one anyway; the ones you find elsewhere are often copied between sites without verification.

Its story

Popularity since 1882

Hover over or drag across the chart to see any year.

Per million boys born. Years with fewer than five births are not in the record, so the line breaks rather than dropping to zero.

See the 76 recorded years as a table

May, per million boys born. Years absent from the table had fewer than five births.
Year	Per million
1882	70
1883	57
1885	46
1886	72
1887	49
1888	91
1889	81
1890	45
1891	49
1892	82
1893	53
1894	69
1897	71
1900	33
1901	56
1902	82
1903	59
1905	45
1907	54
1909	30
1910	31
1911	22
1912	12
1913	21
1914	21
1915	19
1916	18
1917	18
1918	21
1919	10
1920	17
1921	11
1922	12
1923	7
1924	14
1925	20
1926	12
1927	10
1928	11
1929	14
1930	14
1931	13
1932	10
1933	9
1934	15
1935	9
1936	13
1937	10
1938	5
1939	9
1940	7
1941	7
1942	7
1944	4
1945	4
1950	3
1954	3
1955	3
1956	4
1960	3
1961	4
1962	4
1963	2
1965	4
1980	3
1982	5
1983	5
1984	3
1986	4
1987	3
1988	6
1989	3
1990	4
1991	3
1992	4
1996	3

Where it’s loved

Most popular in these states

May isn’t concentrated in any one state. Either it’s spread evenly, or no state reaches the 25 births over three years needed before a rate means anything.

More like it

More like May

The numbers

Every figure

Births in 1996: 6
Rank in 1996: #7,971
How rare: 1 in 315,716 boys
Since 1882: 699

May was last recorded in 1996. Fewer than five boys have been given the name in any year since, which is the point below which the record stops reporting.

Most popular in 1888, at 91 per million boys born.

There isn’t enough data for a ten-year trend: May doesn’t appear in both ends of that window.

Figures from the US Social Security Administration’s 2025 release. How these numbers are made.