Mairead
Mairead was given to 33 girls in 2025, #4,316 among girls’ names; 1,402 Americans have been recorded with it since 1967 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 1,380 Americans named Mairead and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (99% of everyone recorded); the median is 22 years old and half are between 13 and 29.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Mairead by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Mairead mean?
Wiktionary, Scottish Gaelic section
Mairead is “a female given name, equivalent to English Margaret”
/ˈmaɾʲət̪/
Meaning: Wiktionary, Scottish Gaelic section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Mairead?
#4,316 among girls’ names, 2025
Mairead rose from #5,593 in 2015 to #4,316 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born rose from 13.4 to 20.5 per million.
59 babies in 2002, the peak
Mairead peaked in 2002, when 59 girls were given it, #2,624 among girls’ names. The 33 births of 2025 are 56% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 33 | #4,316 | 20.5 |
| 2024 | 19 | #6,309 | 11.7 |
| 2023 | 37 | #4,020 | 23.1 |
| 2022 | 22 | #5,743 | 13.4 |
| 2021 | 29 | #4,686 | 17.7 |
| 2020 | 26 | #4,958 | 16.1 |
| 2019 | 25 | #5,247 | 14.9 |
| 2018 | 25 | #5,264 | 14.7 |
| 2017 | 35 | #4,197 | 20.3 |
| 2016 | 25 | #5,405 | 14.1 |
Every recorded year (52)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 24 | #5,593 | 13.4 |
| 2014 | 25 | #5,396 | 14.0 |
| 2013 | 31 | #4,601 | 17.7 |
| 2012 | 31 | #4,669 | 17.6 |
| 2011 | 28 | #4,998 | 15.9 |
| 2010 | 36 | #4,154 | 20.3 |
| 2009 | 50 | #3,332 | 27.2 |
| 2008 | 44 | #3,683 | 23.3 |
| 2007 | 49 | #3,413 | 25.5 |
| 2006 | 40 | #3,831 | 21.0 |
| 2005 | 34 | #4,163 | 18.4 |
| 2004 | 44 | #3,417 | 24.0 |
| 2003 | 51 | #2,978 | 27.9 |
| 2002 | 59 | #2,624 | 32.8 |
| 2001 | 43 | #3,228 | 23.9 |
| 2000 | 46 | #3,045 | 25.3 |
| 1999 | 43 | #3,082 | 24.2 |
| 1998 | 40 | #3,150 | 22.6 |
| 1997 | 53 | #2,464 | 30.4 |
| 1996 | 39 | #3,063 | 22.2 |
| 1995 | 43 | #2,819 | 24.5 |
| 1994 | 27 | #3,960 | 15.1 |
| 1993 | 22 | #4,596 | 12.2 |
| 1992 | 19 | #5,176 | 10.3 |
| 1991 | 30 | #3,589 | 16.0 |
| 1990 | 30 | #3,586 | 15.8 |
| 1989 | 18 | #4,969 | 9.8 |
| 1988 | 13 | #6,125 | 7.3 |
| 1987 | 14 | #5,475 | 8.1 |
| 1986 | 9 | #7,479 | 5.2 |
| 1985 | 9 | #7,309 | 5.2 |
| 1984 | 9 | #7,153 | 5.3 |
| 1983 | 7 | #8,596 | 4.2 |
| 1982 | 11 | #6,178 | 6.5 |
| 1981 | 7 | #8,659 | 4.2 |
| 1980 | 5 | #11,412 | 3.0 |
| 1979 | 9 | #7,070 | 5.6 |
| 1978 | 8 | #7,364 | 5.2 |
| 1977 | 6 | #9,155 | 3.9 |
| 1973 | 7 | #7,099 | 4.8 |
| 1971 | 7 | #7,041 | 4.2 |
| 1967 | 6 | #6,490 | 3.6 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Mairead a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Mairead has been recorded only for girls: SSA lists no boys with the name in 52 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Mairead: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Mairead, and how old are they?
1,380 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 99% of the 1,402 Americans ever recorded as Mairead. The median Mairead alive today is 22 years old; half are between 13 and 29.
The 2020 Census counted 1,366 people named Mairead (1,362 women and girls, 4 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 1,228 born in the U.S. The Census count is 11% above that prediction. Possible reasons: the Census counts people born abroad, whom SSA’s files leave out, and it records the name people give, which SSA may have recorded under another spelling or as part of a compound name.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 45 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 300 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 683 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 354 |
An estimate, not a count. SSA’s files count people born in the United States who received a Social Security number, so anyone born abroad is not in them; before 1937 most people got a number as adults, and their survival is counted from that age.
Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).
Where are babies named Mairead born?
| State | Births 2025 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| Massachusetts | 11 | #503 | 5.6× |
| New York | 6 | #1,975 | 2.9× |
Where Mairead is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Mairead is most over-represented in Massachusetts: since 1967 it was given 5.6 times as often there as its national share each year would predict.
States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among girls’ names in the state in 2025. The file leaves out any state and year with fewer than 5 babies of the name, so small states are undercounted; each ratio compares the state’s births of Mairead with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Mairead
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
More about Mairead and names like it
- Compare Mairead and KatyaBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 2000sMairead peaked in 2002.
- New York’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Mairead since 1910.
- Scottish Gaelic namesWiktionary’s origin for Mairead: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 2002The year the most babies were named Mairead.
- The names of Generation ZMost people named Mairead alive today were born 1997-2012.
- Names starting with MMost given first.