Is May 22 a rare birthday? Ordinary

More common than 65% of all 366 dates.

May 22 #127
Most commonSeptember 9RarestDecember 25
Cartoon birthday scene for May 22: a child behind a cake whose candles spell the date
At a glance

May 22 in numbers

The odds, the star sign and the other dates that come with it.

Born each year≈ 10,979in the United States — about 935,000 of them are alive today
In a full stadium138 peopleof 50,000 were born on May 22
On the day itselfEvery 8 secondsa baby is born on May 22 somewhere in the United States
Star signGeminimore common than 23 of the 31 Gemini birthdays
Half-birthdayNovember 22six months later, to the day
Conceived aroundAugust 29A summer night, then.
Birth frequency by rank

Where May 22 ranks

From most common birthday to rarest, May 22 ranks in position #127, with 10,979 births a year. 239 other dates are rarer. 46 dates are within 1% of its count, anywhere from #111 to #157, so the exact position is a close thing.

May 22#127 · 10,979 a year11,9006,546#1#366
56 years of records

May 22 through the years

Where it ranked in the United States, year by year.

Fell on a weekdayOn a weekend
rarestmost
common
1969, Thursday: rank #267 of 365, 9,406 births1970, Friday: rank #167 of 365, 10,362 births1971, Saturday: rank #339 of 365, 8,380 births1972, Monday: rank #144 of 366, 9,248 births1973, Tuesday: rank #184 of 365, 8,767 births1974, Wednesday: rank #179 of 365, 8,776 births1975, Thursday: rank #98 of 365, 9,120 births1976, Saturday: rank #337 of 366, 7,465 births1977, Sunday: rank #343 of 365, 7,731 births1978, Monday: rank #216 of 365, 9,102 births1979, Tuesday: rank #163 of 365, 9,772 births1980, Thursday: rank #158 of 366, 10,109 births1981, Friday: rank #108 of 365, 10,424 births1982, Saturday: rank #326 of 365, 8,605 births1983, Sunday: rank #344 of 365, 8,368 births1984, Tuesday: rank #88 of 366, 10,780 births1985, Wednesday: rank #122 of 365, 10,908 births1986, Thursday: rank #151 of 365, 10,781 births1987, Friday: rank #42 of 365, 11,620 births1988, Sunday: rank #320 of 366, 8,816 births1989, Monday: rank #181 of 365, 11,487 births1990, Tuesday: rank #74 of 365, 12,579 births1991, Wednesday: rank #78 of 365, 12,425 births1992, Friday: rank #16 of 366, 12,736 births1993, Saturday: rank #288 of 365, 9,084 births1994, Sunday: rank #320 of 365, 8,449 births1995, Monday: rank #199 of 365, 11,250 births1996, Wednesday: rank #111 of 366, 11,733 births1997, Thursday: rank #79 of 365, 12,023 births1998, Friday: rank #70 of 365, 12,312 births1999, Saturday: rank #286 of 365, 8,558 births2000, Monday: rank #231 of 366, 11,365 births2001, Tuesday: rank #58 of 365, 12,785 births2002, Wednesday: rank #95 of 365, 12,463 births2003, Thursday: rank #52 of 365, 13,199 births2004, Saturday: rank #281 of 366, 8,519 births2005, Sunday: rank #346 of 365, 7,276 births2006, Monday: rank #217 of 365, 12,570 births2007, Tuesday: rank #54 of 365, 13,964 births2008, Thursday: rank #63 of 366, 13,549 births2009, Friday: rank #76 of 365, 13,172 births2010, Saturday: rank #282 of 365, 8,015 births2011, Sunday: rank #327 of 365, 7,196 births2012, Tuesday: rank #92 of 366, 12,445 births2013, Wednesday: rank #107 of 365, 12,235 births2014, Thursday: rank #77 of 365, 12,565 births2015, Friday: rank #139 of 365, 12,147 births2016, Sunday: rank #337 of 366, 7,250 births2017, Monday: rank #201 of 365, 11,378 births2018, Tuesday: rank #75 of 365, 11,875 births2019, Wednesday: rank #90 of 365, 11,636 births2020, Friday: rank #82 of 366, 11,261 births2021, Saturday: rank #288 of 365, 7,711 births2022, Sunday: rank #348 of 365, 6,698 births2023, Monday: rank #226 of 365, 10,336 births2024, Wednesday: rank #126 of 366, 11,011 births1970198019902000201020202024

On a weekend it slips to #320, from #124 on a working day

Inductions and planned caesareans are booked on working days, so 29.7% fewer babies arrive and the date falls down the ranking. Each bar is the average rank of the years it landed on that day.

#202
Mon
#99
Tue
#114
Wed
#118
Thu
#88
Fri
#303
Sat
#336
Sun
Most common year
1992#16 of 366Friday · 12,736 births
Rarest year
2022#348 of 365Sunday · 6,698 births
Weekend years
16 of 5629% of the record2022 was the most recent
Around the world

May 22 in other countries

May 22 is the 127th most common birthday in the United States. It is not among the 50 most common in any of the 26 other countries, and ranges from #56 in Ecuador to #322 in Chile.

  1. Ecuador

    #56 of 366

    795 births on an average May 22

    INEC, 2013–⁠2023

  2. England & Wales

    #61 of 366

    1,833 births on an average May 22

    ONS, 1995–⁠2025

  3. Norway

    #71 of 366

    166 births on an average May 22

    SSB, 2011–⁠2025

  4. Brazil

    #80 of 366

    8,442 births on an average May 22

    DATASUS, 1997–⁠2024

  5. Argentina

    #103 of 366

    1,596 births on an average May 22

    DEIS, 2018–⁠2023

  6. Belgium

    #105 of 366

    333 births on an average May 22

    Statbel, 1992–⁠2025

  7. Malaysia

    #108 of 366

    1,416 births on an average May 22

    DOSM, 2000–⁠2022

  8. Peru

    #117 of 366

    1,224 births on an average May 22

    INEI, 2019–⁠2025

  9. Switzerland

    #119 of 366

    226 births on an average May 22

    FSO, 1969–⁠2025

  10. Germany

    #131 of 366

    2,075 births on an average May 22

    Destatis, 2014–⁠2025

  11. Latvia

    #135 of 366

    55 births on an average May 22

    CSB, 1996–⁠2025

  12. Netherlands

    #146 of 366

    500 births on an average May 22

    CBS, 1995–⁠2025

  13. New Zealand

    #167 of 366

    157 births on an average May 22

    Stats NZ, 1980–⁠2023

  14. Slovenia

    #179 of 366

    53 births on an average May 22

    SURS, 2000–⁠2025

  15. Hungary

    #187 of 366

    326 births on an average May 22

    KSH, 1970–⁠2020

  16. France

    #188 of 366

    2,144 births on an average May 22

    INSEE, 1998–⁠2024

  17. Japan

    #190 of 366

    2,776 births on an average May 22

    e-Stat, 1996–⁠2025

  18. Finland

    #203 of 366

    140 births on an average May 22

    Statistics Finland, 2010–⁠2025

  19. Portugal

    #213 of 366

    296 births on an average May 22

    INE Portugal, 1980–⁠2025

  20. Philippines

    #228 of 366

    4,372 births on an average May 22

    PSA, 2006–⁠2024

  21. Denmark

    #230 of 366

    162 births on an average May 22

    Statistics Denmark, 2007–⁠2025

  22. Ireland

    #238 of 366

    166 births on an average May 22

    CSO, 1980–⁠2023

  23. Mexico

    #261 of 366

    4,861 births on an average May 22

    INEGI, 2017–⁠2023

  24. Guatemala

    #292 of 366

    914 births on an average May 22

    INE Guatemala, 2018–⁠2024

  25. Costa Rica

    #307 of 366

    161 births on an average May 22

    INEC Costa Rica, 2014–⁠2024

  26. Chile

    #322 of 366

    670 births on an average May 22

    DEIS, 1990–⁠2017
Birthday twins

Famous people born on May 22

Ranked by how often people looked them up on Wikipedia last year.

Novak DjokovicNovak DjokovicSerbian tennis player · born 1987Maggie QMaggie QAmerican actress · born 1979MorrisseyMorrisseyEnglish singer · born 1959Laurence OlivierLaurence OlivierEnglish actor and director · born 1907Ginnifer GoodwinGinnifer GoodwinAmerican actress · born 1978Harvey MilkHarvey MilkAmerican gay rights activist · born 1930Katie PriceKatie PriceEnglish media personality and model · born 1978Graham LinehanGraham LinehanIrish writer and anti-transgender activist · born 1968
Zoom out

May against the other eleven

May 22 is the 3rd 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.

10,394
Jan
10,637
Feb
10,658
Mar
10,557
Apr
10,702
May
10,990
Jun
11,238
Jul
11,405
Aug
11,448
Sep
10,872
Oct
10,616
Nov
10,633
Dec
May 21
Births a year10,838
Rank#172
May 22
Births a year10,979
Rank#127
May 23
Births a year11,062
Rank#114

May 22 is the 3rd most common of the 15 days around it

#150
15
#164
16
#152
17
#154
18
#233
19
#170
20
#172
21
#127
22
#114
23
#105
24
#259
25
#337
26
#347
27
#330
28
#333
29
The whole year

Every date on one grid

In the United States, September is the busiest month of the year to be born in and January the quietest.

Each square is one date

May 22#127 of 36610,979 births a year

JanJFebFMarMAprAMayMJunJJulJAugASepSOctONovNDecD151015202530
RarestMost common

Compare with a friend

See how May 22 stacks up against someone else's birthday.

YouMay 22
#127Rank
10,979Births a year
Friend
Questions

Quick answers

How many babies are born on May 22?

About 10,979 a year in the United States. It was at its most common in 1992, when 12,736 babies were born and it ranked #16 of 366; at its rarest in 2022, with 6,698 births at #348.

Is May 22 a common birthday?

In the United States, May 22 is the 127th most common of 366 dates, with about 10,979 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. 46 other dates are within 1% of May 22's count, spread from #111 to #157, 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 22 rarer in other countries?

In some. It is rarer in 17 of the 26 other countries we hold daily records for. It is at its rarest in Chile, at #322 of 366, and at its most common in Ecuador, at #56.

Our data

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.

Read the full methodology →

Updated October 2026