May 26 is the rarest May birthday in these U.S. birth records from 1994 through 2014. May 23 is the most common. The chart and table below let you compare all 31 May dates, with ranks within May and across the year.
Compare May birthdays
May 26 had the fewest births and May 23 the most among May dates in these U.S. records. Choose two dates to see how far apart they are.
CDC/NCHS + SSA via FiveThirtyEight · 1994–2014 · 85,712,738 births
May 26
- Within May
- #31 of 31
- Across the whole year
- #349 of 366
- Recorded births
- 218,924
- Share of all births
- 0.255%
Both ranks count from most common (#1) to rarest. Ties share a rank.
May 26 had 9.9% fewer births than May 23 (218,924 versus 243,051).
Open May 26 in the birthday checkerAll 31 May birthdays ranked
Month rank compares only May dates. Overall rank compares all 366 dates, including February 29. #1 is most common in both columns.
| Date | Month rank | Overall rank | Births | Share of all births |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 1 | #15 | #220 | 231,969 | 0.271% |
| May 2 | #9 | #181 | 234,364 | 0.273% |
| May 3 | #20 | #262 | 229,832 | 0.268% |
| May 4 | #28 | #328 | 225,674 | 0.263% |
| May 5 | #12 | #194 | 233,270 | 0.272% |
| May 6 | #18 | #243 | 230,678 | 0.269% |
| May 7 | #19 | #244 | 230,637 | 0.269% |
| May 8 | #17 | #236 | 231,046 | 0.270% |
| May 9 | #13 | #203 | 232,748 | 0.272% |
| May 10 | #10 | #191 | 233,301 | 0.272% |
| May 11 | #26 | #321 | 226,257 | 0.264% |
| May 12 | #14 | #219 | 231,981 | 0.271% |
| May 13 | #29 | #331 | 225,316 | 0.263% |
| May 14 | #11 | #192 | 233,287 | 0.272% |
| May 15 | #7 | #160 | 235,258 | 0.274% |
| May 16 | #3 | #125 | 237,933 | 0.278% |
| May 17 | #8 | #178 | 234,418 | 0.273% |
| May 18 | #22 | #276 | 229,518 | 0.268% |
| May 19 | #16 | #225 | 231,664 | 0.270% |
| May 20 | #6 | #151 | 235,846 | 0.275% |
| May 21 | #5 | #133 | 237,249 | 0.277% |
| May 22 | #4 | #126 | 237,932 | 0.278% |
| May 23 | #1 | #89 | 243,051 | 0.284% |
| May 24 | #2 | #109 | 239,490 | 0.279% |
| May 25 | #23 | #304 | 228,090 | 0.266% |
| May 26 | #31 | #349 | 218,924 | 0.255% |
| May 27 | #30 | #333 | 225,130 | 0.263% |
| May 28 | #24 | #310 | 227,501 | 0.265% |
| May 29 | #25 | #312 | 227,287 | 0.265% |
| May 30 | #21 | #266 | 229,810 | 0.268% |
| May 31 | #27 | #326 | 225,906 | 0.264% |
Each May date occurs 21 times in this period, so ranking by births per occurrence gives the same order within this month.
How rare is a May 26 birthday?
May 26 had 218,924 recorded births in 21 occurrences. It ranks last in May and 349 out of all 366 birthday dates. In both rankings, #1 means the most births.
The May 26 total includes four years when the date was Memorial Day. To put that overlap in context, we compared May 26 with May 19 and June 2 in each year. Those dates are exactly one week before and after, so all three share a weekday. The yearly averages for May 19 and June 2 add up to 235,374 births across the period. May 26 had 7.0% fewer births than that matched total.
May 26 fell on Memorial Day in 1997, 2003, 2008, and 2014. In the other 17 years, May 26 had 187,307 births. The same-weekday comparison totaled 187,876.5, a gap of just 0.3%. Using four nearby dates instead of two puts the full-period gap at 6.5%.
The U.S. Office of Personnel Management defines Memorial Day as the last Monday in May. The Veterans Affairs history confirms that rule began before the years studied here. The gap in these records is concentrated in the years when that Monday was May 26. The records do not tell us why births differed: they contain daily totals, not delivery schedules or families' decisions.
What is the most common May birthday?
May 23 leads with 243,051 births and ranks 89 across all 366 dates. Its total is 11.0% higher than May 26's. Choose any two May dates above to compare their counts, or check a birthday outside May.
How to read the May rankings
The May rank compares 31 dates; the overall rank compares 366. Both use total recorded births. Every May date occurred 21 times, so dividing the totals by occurrences would leave the May order unchanged.
Each date's birth share divides its count by all births in this U.S. dataset, including births outside May. It does not describe the share of people alive today with that birthday. The rarest-birthday guide compares dates across the calendar; birth months compares whole months.
Sources and limits
We calculate these results from daily U.S. birth records compiled by FiveThirtyEight. We use CDC/NCHS for 1994 through 1999 and SSA for 2000 through 2014, excluding the overlapping CDC years. The sources have different administrative coverage. These historical U.S. counts are not a current or worldwide ranking.
Matching nearby weekdays controls for that calendar pattern, but leaves other differences between dates. The weekday study explains the pattern, and the holiday study compares four other dates. The methodology explains the source selection and ranks.
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