The may Surname
may Name Meaning and History
- English, French, Danish, Dutch, and German: from a short form of the personal name Matthias (see Matthew) or any of its many cognates, for example Norman French Maheu.
- English, French, Dutch, and German: from a nickname or personal name taken from the month of May (Middle English, Old French mai, Middle High German meie, from Latin Maius (mensis), from Maia, a minor Roman goddess of fertility). This name was sometimes bestowed on someone born or baptized in the month of May; it was also used to refer to someone of a sunny disposition, or who had some anecdotal connection with the month of May, such as owing a feudal obligation then.
- English: nickname from Middle English may ‘young man or woman’.
- Irish (Connacht and Midlands): when not of English origin (see 1–3 above), this is an Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Miadhaigh ‘descendant of Miadhach’, a personal name or byname meaning ‘honorable’, ‘proud’.
- French: habitational name from any of various places called May or Le May.
- Jewish (Ashkenazic): habitational name from Mayen, a place in western Germany.
- Americanized spelling of cognates of 1 in various European languages, for example Swedish Ma(i)j.
- Chinese
: possibly a variant of
Mei 1, although this spelling occurs more often for the given
name than for the surname.
Dictionary of American Family Names, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-508137-4
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