The most used girls' names beginning with M in 2025

M is the second-largest initial for girls after A: 27,716 babies across 713 spellings, with thirteen names inside the top 100. The letter's top is dominated by revived Victorian and medieval names. Mabel, Matilda, Margot, Millie and Maisie were all uncommon in England and Wales a generation ago and are now among the most used names in the country.

ONS rank (all girls' names)	Name	Babies in 2025	Meaning and origin
16	Mabel	1,527	Medieval English short form of Amabel, from Latin amabilis, lovable
19	Matilda	1,449	Germanic maht might and hild battle
21	Mia	1,372	Scandinavian and Italian short form of Maria; Italian mia, mine, also feeds it
26	Maeve	1,330	Irish Meadhbh, usually read as she who intoxicates; the warrior queen of Connacht
28	Maya	1,259	Several unrelated names: Sanskrit maya illusion, Hebrew Maya, and a form of Maia
30	Margot	1,230	French pet form of Marguerite, from Greek margarites, pearl
36	Millie	1,080	English pet form of Amelia, Millicent or Emily, depending on the family
40	Mila	1,014	Slavic mil, gracious or dear; also a short form of Camila and Ludmila
43	Maisie	966	Scots pet form of Mairead, that is Margaret, pearl
52	Maryam	825	Arabic form of Mary, Hebrew Miryam, of disputed meaning; the mother of Jesus in the Quran
88	Maria	522	Latin form of Mary, Hebrew Miryam, of disputed meaning
94	Myla	490	Modern; read as a feminine of Miles or Kyla, with no older record

The most used boys' names beginning with M in 2025

For boys, M holds the top of the national list. Muhammad was given to 5,957 babies in 2025, more than any other boys' name, and Mohammed and Mohammad add 1,712 and 895 more as separate ONS rows. The letter covers 24,294 boys across 495 names in total, with nine inside the top 100.

ONS rank (all boys' names)	Name	Babies in 2025	Meaning and origin
1	Muhammad	5,957	Arabic, praiseworthy, from the root h-m-d, to praise; the Prophet of Islam
20	Mohammed	1,712	A common English spelling of Muhammad, praiseworthy
48	Max	1,061	Short form of Maximilian or Maxwell, from Latin maximus, greatest
55	Mohammad	895	A common English spelling of Muhammad, praiseworthy
64	Musa	798	Arabic form of Moses; the Hebrew name is usually read as drawn out of the water
67	Myles	764	A spelling of Miles, of disputed origin: Germanic, or Latin miles, soldier
77	Mason	675	English occupational surname for a stone worker
85	Michael	615	Hebrew Mikhael, who is like God
90	Milo	597	Latinised form of the Germanic Milo, of uncertain meaning; linked to Miles
114	Miles	474	Disputed: a Germanic name Latinised as Milo, or Latin miles, soldier
125	Marley	395	English place name and surname, a boundary or pleasant wood
129	Muhammed	385	A further spelling of Muhammad, praiseworthy

Which M names are rising and which are falling

Climbing

Mabel gained 21 places to 16th, the fourth-largest single-year climb in the girls' top 100, and Marnie gained 16 and entered the top 100 as a new entry. Matilda rose 12, Mila 6 and Maryam 5. Among boys Myles gained 20 places and Musa 9. The ten-year figures are the largest anywhere in the girls' data: Maeve is up 596 places since 2015, Margot 241 and Mabel 200.

Slipping

Maya fell 13 places, Millie 9 and Mia 7, all from inside the top 40. Mason fell 14 places and is down 46 since 2015, the letter's steepest long-run decline. Max lost 4 and is down 20 over ten years, and Michael held level in the year but is down 31 since 2015. Muhammad itself did not move at all and is 11 places higher than in 2015.

What the published change columns cannot tell you

Molly, Maria, Myla, Marnie's neighbours below the line, Marley, Muhammed, Matthew and Mateo are all outside the top 100 and have no published change. Muhammed at 385 is a good illustration of why: it is a third spelling of the country's most popular boys' name, and the direction of a spelling variant is not something the ONS reports.

How big a letter M really is

M is second for girls and second for boys, and it is one of the least concentrated letters on the girls' side, where Mabel takes only 6 per cent of the total. The boys' letter is the opposite: Muhammad alone is 25 per cent of every boy given an M name, and the three main spellings together are more than a third of it.

The spelling question is unavoidable here. The ONS records names exactly as written on the birth certificate, so Muhammad, Mohammed, Mohammad and Muhammed are four separate rows totalling 8,949 babies. The ONS itself notes that grouping names by pronunciation would change the rankings, and publishes the exact spellings so that readers can group them if they wish.

Further M names in the published 2025 list

The ONS full list does not stop at the tables above, and the counts stay exact all the way down. For girls the next names in order of use are Marnie at 467, Molly at 405, Maeva at 366, Maddison at 324, Martha at 302, Madison at 280, Maggie at 271, Maia at 255, Miley at 220, Mya at 203, Mirha at 199, Miriam at 197. For boys they are Matthew at 353, Mateo at 328, Matteo at 328, Mustafa at 298, Maxwell at 274, Micah at 266, Maximilian at 245, Mohamed at 240, Maximus at 228, Marcus at 170, Milan at 169, Monty at 169. Each figure is the exact number of babies registered with that exact spelling during 2025, taken from the ONS full-list table rather than from the top 100. The letter carries 713 different girls' names and 495 different boys' names in the published data altogether, and any name given to two or fewer babies has been removed from it.

Choosing a M name: what the data changes

M is a letter where the top and the middle behave very differently. If you want a name that is established but not ubiquitous, Marnie at 467, Maria at 522 and Miles at 474 all sit below the top 90 with long documented histories. If you are drawn to the Victorian revival group, expect company: Mabel, Matilda, Margot and Maisie together account for more than 5,100 babies in a single year.

Baby names starting with M: girls and boys