Mei
Mei was given to 117 girls in 2025, #1,744 among girls’ names; 1,859 Americans have been recorded with it since 1947 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 1,820 Americans named Mei and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (98% of everyone recorded); the median is 15 years old and half are between 6 and 28.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Mei by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Mei mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Mei is “a female given name from Mandarin.” Its etymology gives the sense “beautiful” (美).
From Mandarin 美 (měi, “beautiful”), a common Chinese given name among women.
/meɪ/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Mei?
#1,744 among girls’ names, 2025
Mei rose from #3,576 in 2015 to #1,744 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born rose from 24.6 to 72.8 per million.
117 babies in 2025, the peak
Mei peaked in 2025, when 117 girls were given it, #1,744 among girls’ names. In 2024 it went to 101 girls.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 117 | #1,744 | 72.8 |
| 2024 | 101 | #1,961 | 62.3 |
| 2023 | 79 | #2,328 | 49.2 |
| 2022 | 55 | #3,018 | 33.5 |
| 2021 | 66 | #2,628 | 40.2 |
| 2020 | 65 | #2,619 | 40.2 |
| 2019 | 61 | #2,777 | 36.3 |
| 2018 | 65 | #2,671 | 38.2 |
| 2017 | 52 | #3,124 | 30.1 |
| 2016 | 55 | #3,046 | 31.0 |
Every recorded year (66)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 44 | #3,576 | 24.6 |
| 2014 | 49 | #3,304 | 27.4 |
| 2013 | 46 | #3,441 | 26.2 |
| 2012 | 39 | #3,967 | 22.1 |
| 2011 | 39 | #3,887 | 22.2 |
| 2010 | 33 | #4,464 | 18.6 |
| 2009 | 46 | #3,548 | 25.0 |
| 2008 | 32 | #4,726 | 16.9 |
| 2007 | 48 | #3,454 | 25.0 |
| 2006 | 47 | #3,450 | 24.7 |
| 2005 | 32 | #4,329 | 17.3 |
| 2004 | 35 | #4,059 | 19.1 |
| 2003 | 45 | #3,269 | 24.6 |
| 2002 | 30 | #4,242 | 16.7 |
| 2001 | 29 | #4,284 | 16.1 |
| 2000 | 41 | #3,315 | 22.6 |
| 1999 | 21 | #5,145 | 11.8 |
| 1998 | 14 | #6,956 | 7.9 |
| 1997 | 26 | #4,198 | 14.9 |
| 1996 | 15 | #6,255 | 8.6 |
| 1995 | 21 | #4,785 | 11.9 |
| 1994 | 12 | #7,426 | 6.7 |
| 1993 | 27 | #3,946 | 14.9 |
| 1992 | 17 | #5,628 | 9.2 |
| 1991 | 17 | #5,568 | 9.1 |
| 1990 | 21 | #4,621 | 11.1 |
| 1989 | 14 | #6,023 | 7.6 |
| 1988 | 9 | #8,141 | 5.1 |
| 1987 | 11 | #6,609 | 6.3 |
| 1986 | 12 | #6,015 | 7.0 |
| 1985 | 17 | #4,577 | 9.9 |
| 1984 | 10 | #6,594 | 5.9 |
| 1983 | 16 | #4,605 | 9.6 |
| 1982 | 15 | #4,853 | 8.9 |
| 1981 | 14 | #5,136 | 8.4 |
| 1980 | 18 | #4,244 | 10.8 |
| 1979 | 17 | #4,350 | 10.6 |
| 1978 | 19 | #3,861 | 12.4 |
| 1977 | 12 | #5,413 | 7.8 |
| 1976 | 14 | #4,503 | 9.6 |
| 1975 | 9 | #6,260 | 6.2 |
| 1974 | 13 | #4,620 | 8.9 |
| 1973 | 8 | #6,443 | 5.5 |
| 1972 | 10 | #5,320 | 6.6 |
| 1970 | 8 | #6,152 | 4.6 |
| 1969 | 7 | #6,373 | 4.1 |
| 1967 | 5 | #7,474 | 3.0 |
| 1964 | 10 | #4,541 | 5.3 |
| 1963 | 8 | #5,152 | 4.2 |
| 1960 | 7 | #5,519 | 3.5 |
| 1959 | 5 | #6,889 | 2.5 |
| 1957 | 6 | #5,852 | 2.9 |
| 1953 | 5 | #6,237 | 2.7 |
| 1949 | 6 | #5,057 | 3.5 |
| 1948 | 6 | #5,063 | 3.5 |
| 1947 | 6 | #5,109 | 3.4 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Mei a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Mei has been recorded only for girls: SSA lists no boys with the name in 66 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Mei: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Mei, and how old are they?
1,820 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 98% of the 1,859 Americans ever recorded as Mei. The median Mei alive today is 15 years old; half are between 6 and 28.
The 2020 Census counted 11,596 people named Mei (11,344 women and girls, 252 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 1,366 born in the U.S. The Census count is 8.5 times 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 46 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 132 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 241 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 551 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 850 |
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 Mei born?
The states with the most babies named Mei are California, New York and Texas, with 63% of its births recorded by state in 2025.
| State | Births 2025 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 17 | #1,395 | 1.4× |
| New York | 13 | #1,131 | 1.5× |
| Texas | 10 | #2,153 | 0.3× |
| Arizona | 7 | #881 | 0.2× |
| Washington | 6 | #1,007 | 0.5× |
| Florida | 5 | #2,380 | 0.1× |
| Utah | 5 | #791 | 0.2× |
Where Mei is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Mei is most over-represented in New York: since 1947 it was given 1.5 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 Mei with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names spelled alike
Of these 8 names spelled alike, given to 7,164 babies since 1880, Mei is the most given (26% of them). In 2025 it was given to 117 of their 157 babies (75%), again the most given.
Spelled alike: names in the SSA national file with the same pattern of letters and sounds and at most two letters apart, and Wiktionary’s listed forms; births since 1880 and in 2025, and each name’s peak year, from the SSA national file, published May 8, 2026. Some are separate names, not spellings of one.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Mei
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 Mei and names like it
- Compare Mei and MeaBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 2020sMei peaked in 2025.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Mei since 1910.
- The top names of 2025The year the most babies were named Mei.
- The names of Generation AlphaMost people named Mei alive today were born 2013-2025.
- Names starting with MMost given first.