Is May 12 a rare birthday? Ordinary
Rarer than 63% of all 366 dates.
May 12 in numbers
The odds, the star sign and the other dates that come with it.
Where May 12 ranks
From most common birthday to rarest, May 12 ranks in position #231, with 10,696 births a year. 230 other dates are more common. 93 dates are within 1% of its count, anywhere from #183 to #276, so the exact position is a close thing.
May 12 through the years
Where it ranked in the United States, year by year.
common
May 12 in other countries
May 12 is the 136th rarest birthday in the United States. It is among the 50 rarest in 1 of the 26 other countries, and ranges from #22 in Brazil to #327 in Guatemala.
Brazil
#22 of 366
8,626 births on an average May 12
DATASUS, 1997–2024Ecuador
#24 of 366
805 births on an average May 12
INEC, 2013–2023Switzerland
#52 of 366
230 births on an average May 12
FSO, 1969–2025Portugal
#61 of 366
306 births on an average May 12
INE Portugal, 1980–2025Norway
#107 of 366
162 births on an average May 12
SSB, 2011–2025France
#121 of 366
2,188 births on an average May 12
INSEE, 1998–2024Malaysia
#123 of 366
1,412 births on an average May 12
DOSM, 2000–2022Germany
#135 of 366
2,062 births on an average May 12
Destatis, 2014–2025Latvia
#142 of 366
55 births on an average May 12
CSB, 1996–2025Ireland
#143 of 366
169 births on an average May 12
CSO, 1980–2023Hungary
#156 of 366
328 births on an average May 12
KSH, 1970–2020Mexico
#160 of 366
5,071 births on an average May 12
INEGI, 2017–2023Slovenia
#169 of 366
53 births on an average May 12
SURS, 2000–2025Belgium
#171 of 366
328 births on an average May 12
Statbel, 1992–2025England & Wales
#171 of 366
1,790 births on an average May 12
ONS, 1995–2025Peru
#184 of 366
1,201 births on an average May 12
INEI, 2019–2025Philippines
#186 of 366
4,422 births on an average May 12
PSA, 2006–2024Japan
#192 of 366
2,775 births on an average May 12
e-Stat, 1996–2025Argentina
#193 of 366
1,498 births on an average May 12
DEIS, 2018–2023Netherlands
#203 of 366
494 births on an average May 12
CBS, 1995–2025New Zealand
#212 of 366
156 births on an average May 12
Stats NZ, 1980–2023Chile
#229 of 366
683 births on an average May 12
DEIS, 1990–2017Finland
#244 of 366
138 births on an average May 12
Statistics Finland, 2010–2025Denmark
#252 of 366
161 births on an average May 12
Statistics Denmark, 2007–2025Costa Rica
#306 of 366
161 births on an average May 12
INEC Costa Rica, 2014–2024Guatemala
#327 of 366
901 births on an average May 12
INE Guatemala, 2018–2024
Famous people born on May 12
Ranked by how often people looked them up on Wikipedia last year.
Rami MalekAmerican actor · born 1981
Emilio EstevezAmerican actor and filmmaker · born 1962
Rishi SunakPrime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2022 to 2024 · born 1980
Rhea SeehornAmerican actress · born 1972
Malin AkermanSwedish and American actress · born 1978
Ving RhamesAmerican actor · born 1959
Domhnall GleesonIrish actor · born 1983
Katharine HepburnAmerican actress · born 1907May against the other eleven
May 12 is the 15th rarest of the 31 days in May. All May birthdays.
May is the 6th most common month of the year
An average May day sees 10,702 births in the United States. September is the busiest month, January the quietest.
Quick answers
How many babies are born on May 12?
About 10,696 a year in the United States. It was at its most common in 1992, when 12,569 babies were born and it ranked #33 of 366; at its rarest in 2019, with 6,646 births at #359.
Is May 12 a common birthday?
In the United States, May 12 is the 136th rarest of 366 dates, with about 10,696 births a year. That makes it an ordinary birthday: neither rare nor especially common.
What is the rarest May birthday?
In the United States, May 27: the 20th rarest of all 366 dates, with about 10,322 births a year. The most common May birthday is May 24, the 105th most common of the year.
How precise is the ranking?
In the middle of the calendar it is not exact. 93 other dates are within 1% of May 12's count, spread from #183 to #276, so the position inside that group would shift with a different set of years. That band is the accurate answer; the rank is the simple one. At the ends — Christmas Day, New Year's Day — nothing is close.
Is May 12 rarer in other countries?
In some. It is rarer in 4 of the 26 other countries we hold daily records for. It is at its rarest in Guatemala, at #327 of 366, and at its most common in Brazil, at #22.
How this is counted
Every date is ranked by how many babies are born on it in the United States. Live births by day of birth from the CDC's National Center for Health Statistics, 1989–2024.
Updated October 2026