May Family History
May Name Meaning
English: from the Middle English male personal name May a pet form of Matthew (see Mayhew ). English Dutch and German: from a personal name or nickname 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. In England this name was possibly also a pet form of Mary or Margaret. This surname is also found in France (Alsace and Lorraine) and Denmark. English: nickname from Middle English mey may ‘kinsman’. English: occupational name from Middle English mei Old French mege meie ‘physician’ a side form of Mee . Irish (Connacht and Midlands): when not of English origin (see 1–4 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 (Le) May. Compare Dumay and Lemay .7: French: from an old vernacular form of the Latin personal name Marius (see Mario ).8: Jewish (Ashkenazic): habitational name from Mayen a place in western Germany.9: Americanized form of Polish and Jewish (from Poland) Maj ‘May’ a cognate of 2 above.10: Chinese: variant Romanization of the surnames 麥 (see Mai ) and 梅 (see Mei ). This form occurs more often for the personal name than for the surname.1 Amerindian (Mexico): Mayan name from maay ‘cloven hoof’ by extension also ‘young deer’.
Source: Dictionary of American Family Names ©2013, Oxford University Press
