Is May 18 a rare birthday? Ordinary
More common than 58% of all 366 dates.
May 18 in numbers
The odds, the star sign and the other dates that come with it.
Where May 18 ranks
From most common birthday to rarest, May 18 ranks in position #154, with 10,883 births a year. 212 other dates are rarer. 72 dates are within 1% of its count, anywhere from #122 to #194, so the exact position is a close thing.
May 18 through the years
Where it ranked in the United States, year by year.
common
May 18 in other countries
May 18 is the 154th most common birthday in the United States. It is among the 50 most common in 1 of the 26 other countries, and ranges from #44 in Brazil to #308 in New Zealand.
Brazil
#44 of 366
8,565 births on an average May 18
DATASUS, 1997–2024Portugal
#74 of 366
305 births on an average May 18
INE Portugal, 1980–2025Ecuador
#75 of 366
790 births on an average May 18
INEC, 2013–2023Ireland
#100 of 366
171 births on an average May 18
CSO, 1980–2023France
#106 of 366
2,194 births on an average May 18
INSEE, 1998–2024Peru
#109 of 366
1,227 births on an average May 18
INEI, 2019–2025Malaysia
#113 of 366
1,415 births on an average May 18
DOSM, 2000–2022Slovenia
#114 of 366
55 births on an average May 18
SURS, 2000–2025Switzerland
#116 of 366
226 births on an average May 18
FSO, 1969–2025Argentina
#125 of 366
1,575 births on an average May 18
DEIS, 2018–2023Latvia
#128 of 366
55 births on an average May 18
CSB, 1996–2025Costa Rica
#134 of 366
171 births on an average May 18
INEC Costa Rica, 2014–2024Chile
#140 of 366
694 births on an average May 18
DEIS, 1990–2017Philippines
#149 of 366
4,532 births on an average May 18
PSA, 2006–2024England & Wales
#161 of 366
1,794 births on an average May 18
ONS, 1995–2025Finland
#162 of 366
142 births on an average May 18
Statistics Finland, 2010–2025Mexico
#163 of 366
5,060 births on an average May 18
INEGI, 2017–2023Denmark
#165 of 366
166 births on an average May 18
Statistics Denmark, 2007–2025Germany
#187 of 366
2,010 births on an average May 18
Destatis, 2014–2025Netherlands
#192 of 366
495 births on an average May 18
CBS, 1995–2025Belgium
#198 of 366
325 births on an average May 18
Statbel, 1992–2025Hungary
#223 of 366
324 births on an average May 18
KSH, 1970–2020Japan
#246 of 366
2,739 births on an average May 18
e-Stat, 1996–2025Norway
#249 of 366
151 births on an average May 18
SSB, 2011–2025Guatemala
#268 of 366
923 births on an average May 18
INE Guatemala, 2018–2024New Zealand
#308 of 366
154 births on an average May 18
Stats NZ, 1980–2023
Famous people born on May 18
Ranked by how often people looked them up on Wikipedia last year.
Pope John Paul IIHead of the Catholic Church from 1978 to 2005 · born 1920
Tina FeyAmerican actress and comedian · born 1970
Travis HunterAmerican football player · born 2003
Nicholas IIEmperor of Russia from 1894 to 1917 · born 1868
Miriam MargolyesBritish and Australian comedian, writer, and actress · born 1941
George StraitAmerican country music singer · born 1952
Emma NavarroAmerican tennis player · born 2001
Bertrand RussellEnglish philosopher and logician · born 1872May against the other eleven
May 18 is the 6th most common 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 18?
About 10,883 a year in the United States. It was at its most common in 1993, when 12,325 babies were born and it ranked #60 of 365; at its rarest in 1969, with 8,028 births at #362.
Is May 18 a common birthday?
In the United States, May 18 is the 154th most common of 366 dates, with about 10,883 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. 72 other dates are within 1% of May 18's count, spread from #122 to #194, 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 18 rarer in other countries?
In some. It is rarer in 12 of the 26 other countries we hold daily records for. It is at its rarest in New Zealand, at #308 of 366, and at its most common in Brazil, at #44.
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