Maylene vs Mayme
American parents have registered 10,928 Maymes since 1880, against 1,198 Maylenes. But in 2025 it was Maylene that was commoner, 22 babies to fewer than five.
Babies given each name, 1880–2025
Maylene Mayme
Each line is every baby given the name that year, girls and boys added together — the only count that means the same thing for both names. A line breaks where the name fell below five babies in a year — the point at which the SSA stops publishing it — rather than being drawn through a figure nobody published. A single published year in a gap shows as a dot.
Who was ahead
Of the 146 years in which either name was published, Mayme for 100 years and Maylene for 46 years. The lead changed hands 13 times.
- 1880–1975 Mayme ahead, apart from 3 short spells
- 1976–1978 Maylene ahead
- 1979–1981 Mayme ahead
- 1985–2025 Maylene ahead, apart from one short spell
6 shorter spells of a year or two are folded into the spans above rather than listed separately.
Side by side
| Maylene | Mayme | |
|---|---|---|
| Total US births | 1,198 | 10,928 |
| Most in one year | 41 | 291 |
| Babies in 2025 | 22 | under 5 |
| Estimated living today | 1,100 | 870 |
| Median age today | 19 | 69 |
| Peak year | 2012 | 1915 |
| Best rank | 3,782nd girls | 348th girls |
| Rank in 2025 | 5,554th | unranked |
| First recorded | 1918 | 1880 |
| Girls / boys | 1,198 / 0 | 10,928 / 0 |
A rank is a position within one sex’s list for one year, so the two rank rows are not subtracted from one another and the winning column is not marked on them. The living figure is a life-table estimate, not a count.
Which name is older
Half of the Maymes alive today are over 69; half the Maylenes are over 19. That is 50 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.
Where each one is strongest
How much commoner the name is in that state than it is nationally, from births recorded since 1910.
Compare something else
Related comparisons
Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Maylene and Mayme.