girl's name
Maëlys
ma-ay-LEES
- Origin Breton
- Gender Girl
- Letters 6
- Popularity Top 1000 (France)
- Births on record 48,272
France
#133
2025 births
Maëlys is a girl's name of Breton origin meaning "chief" or "prince," a feminine formed from Maël. It ranks 133rd in France and is stable, and outside France it is barely used at all.
- Maëlys is a name of Breton origin.
- Peaked in France in 2009, when 3,720 babies were given the name.
- Its usage has held steady over the past decade in France.
- Today about 1 in 1,512 babies in France is given this name.
- First appears in birth records in 1975.
Maëlys over time
Births per decade in France, 1970s to 2020s. The striped bar is the 2020s, still in progress — it covers 2020 to 2025, not a full ten years.
Show the numbers
| Decade | Births |
|---|---|
| 1970s | 10 |
| 1980s | 115 |
| 1990s | 2,740 |
| 2000s | 19,730 |
| 2010s | 21,225 |
| 2020s (to 2025) | 3,770 |
What Maëlys means
Maëlys means chief, prince or lord, from the Breton mael. The word denotes rank rather than character, and the feminine ending does not soften it — the sense is the same authority applied to a woman.
Where Maëlys comes from
Maëlys is a modern Breton feminine built on Maël, from the Old Breton mael, a chief or prince, the same element in Maelgwn and in the Irish and Scottish mael, meaning a devotee or tonsured servant. Saint Maël was a fifth-century Breton hermit, a companion of Saint Patrick by one tradition. The -ys ending is a twentieth-century French formation rather than an inherited Breton one, of a piece with Maëlle, Maëline and Maëva; Maëlys itself is barely older than the 1970s. The diaeresis is doing real work — it marks the a and e as separately pronounced, so the name is three syllables, and dropping it changes the reading. French law only permitted regional names like this from 1966, which is why almost every Breton name in the charts is recent.
Maëlys in use
Maëlys ranks 133rd in France with about 440 births in 2025 and is stable in our data with a peak in 2009. Our records carry it from 1975. Outside France it barely registers at 2,634th in the United States and does not appear in the British tables at all, which is typical of Breton names — the diaeresis and the three-syllable reading give non-French speakers no way in.
How popular is Maëlys?
In 2025, Maëlys was given to 390 babies in France, ranking #133 that year. It is a well-established, commonly used name.
Where Maëlys is used
French counts are rounded to the nearest five and nothing below five is published, so these figures show the shape of the name's use rather than an exact tally. Data & sources.
How Maëlys is spelled
Birth registers count each spelling separately, so every one has its own ranking.
| Spelling | What it is | Births on record |
|---|---|---|
| Maelys | Maelys is a spelling of Maëlys, used in the United States, where it ranks #2,634. | 28,877 |
| Maélys | Maélys is a rare spelling of Maëlys, written with an acute accent and recorded about 620 times, mostly in France. | 620 |
| Mae-Lys | Mae-Lys is Maëlys without the diaeresis, and the spelling recorded in France, where it ranks #5,629. | 30 |
| Maë-Lys | Maë-Lys is Maëlys written with a hyphen, recorded mostly in France. | 10 |
| Maêlys | Maêlys is a rare spelling of Maëlys, written with a circumflex and recorded about 10 times, mostly in France. | 10 |
Names that peaked alongside Maëlys
These names rose and fell in the same era, which is why they tend to sound like they belong together.
Parents who like Maëlys also like
Names whose popularity has risen and fallen in step with Maëlys over the last century — the same taste, a different name.
Maëlys in other languages
The same name as it is spelled elsewhere — not shortenings, and not different names that merely sound alike. Each one has its own record here.
Sibling names for Maëlys
Names from the same era that won't rhyme or share an initial with Maëlys — the two things that make a sibling set grate.
Common questions about Maëlys
What does the name Maëlys mean?
Maëlys means "chief" or "prince," from the Breton mael.
How do you pronounce Maëlys?
ma-ay-LEES, three syllables. The diaeresis marks the a and e as separately sounded.
Is Maëlys a traditional Breton name?
The root is, but this feminine form is a twentieth-century French formation.
How popular is Maëlys?
133rd in France, and barely used elsewhere.
Is Maëlys a girl's or a boy's name?
Maëlys is given almost entirely to girls in birth records.
Is Maëlys a good name?
That is not something records can settle, but they can tell you what you would be choosing. Maëlys currently ranks #133 in France. Its usage has held steady over the past decade. Everything else — how it sounds with your surname, who it reminds you of — is yours.