View Message

I like either spelling, but May has the edge for me. It might be partly because my late nan was a May. Her real name was Mary, but she always went by May. May and Mae are both overused as middle names, and it would be refreshing to hear of them being given more as first names.

I like Mae!

---

May seems a lot plainer, more buttoned-down and reserved, but Mae is energetic!

Mae. May is too exaggerated. Mae is nice and simple.

I prefer May. It makes me think of spring and flowers. Mae just makes me think of forgotten old boxes in an attic.

I like May/ Mae and prefer the Mae spelling because (1) it doesn't look like a verb and (2) because it was one of my mother's mns. I've recently come to appreciate this name a lot and sort of wish I'd considered it for one of my three girls. The only reason I didn't was because my mother despised this name and never used it as an adult (on her children's birth certificates, for example). Today, I'd even consider using it as part of a two-name deal (i.e., Cora Mae, Daphne Mae).

---

As for the spellings themselves, I definitely prefer Mae although I don't perceive them differently in terms of colors, associations, etc. Both have a sweetly old-fashioned feel.

Although I usually prefer the more traditional spelling of a name, in this case I like Mae better. It looks more name-y and friendlier, somehow. It makes it distinctive from May, the month.

These are my associations...

---

Mae:

---

(picnics and blue/pink vintage floral patterns, Georgia or other Southern states, a feisty old lady, a girl in a straw hat)

---

5) Rita Mae Brown

---

May:

---

1)

---

2)

---

3) May Day

---

4) Louisa May Alcott

---

5) Mayfly from "Everything is Green" by David Foster Wallace

---

I think I'd prefer May (it seems more springy and less regional to me) as a FN, but I have no preference when they're used as middle names.

This message was edited 4/26/2017, 7:42 AM

Mae seems typically USA to me; no doubt because the only one I've ever heard of is Mae West. And I was writing that off as a Hollywood frivolity until I realised that there were also Fae people roaming the streets.

---

In both cases, I far prefer the -y version. I don't get a clear phonetic message from /ae/ anyway, and people who do not have English as their first language (my country is full of them!) are likely to be confused.

---

As a name for present-day use, I like the idea of May but I wouldn't use it myself; mostly because there are so many names I like better. And I wouldn't touch Mae with a garden rake.

Personally, I prefer Mae because it looks more like a name than a word or month and it has some great Jazz age history to it.

---

May parents would be more hippie and shy and Mae's parents are more outgoing and exciting.

I like it, but I far prefer the Mae spelling. May to me is a very ladylike older woman who likes to knit, wear sweaters, and has a lot of lace doilies in her house. Mae is feisty, brash, and independent. I'm pretty sure that Mae has that image for me because of Mae West, but whatever.

---

I would imagine the parents of a May to be more religious and conservative than the parents of a Mae.

Mae. It looks more soft and feminine and it isn't spelled like the word. "May I see you for a moment?" For example.

---

Mae 100%

I guess I would pick Mae -- it seems more like a name than a verb or the month. Honestly I do not like the name very much at all and never have. It just strikes me as very rotund.

May is very Victorian. It makes me think of May blossom (which is out at the moment and making me sneeze) and all the connected folklore. I had a great great (or something) grandmother known as May, short for Mary which apparently was very common.

---

So for me May is sweetly old fashioned. It's horribly over used as a filler middle and a tacky hyphenated addition, but I'd love to meet someone just called 'May'

---

Mae is pure Vegas showgirl to me. Brassy blonde and sequinned hotpants. Plus everything I said about middle fillers and hyphens. Just a little bit trashy

This might seem weird, but I prefer May as a spelling for a first name and Mae as the spelling for a middle name.

---

The spellings have the same feeling for me. I guess if I'd have to assign a colour to them they'd be mint green. I don't otherwise really get "feelings" from names.

I love the look of 'ae', and I used to say Mae 100%. But I've grown to like the simple, classic feel of May. I usually use it in the middle, so I match the spelling to the first. But I think I'd still go for Mae. Mae feels more modern and adventurous, whereas May seems more reserved and delicate. But then out loud they're the same, so I don't see them as all that different.