Fun Facts About the Name Maat
- 193 babies named Maat: U.S. records list 193 babies given the name Maat from 1880 through 2025.
What Does the Name Maat Mean?
Maat is an ancient Egyptian word used as a name; it means "truth," "justice," and "right order." It comes from the feminine noun mꜣꜥt, often transliterated as maat or ma'at. The term referred to the proper order of the world and to the moral standard by which actions were judged, so it can also be rendered "what is right." The same word is the name of the goddess Maat, who personifies that order. Modern descriptions sometimes call it "cosmic balance," but the Egyptian sense is more concrete: truth and justice as the right ordering of things.
Maat Name History & Origins
The word mꜣꜥt is attested in ancient Egyptian religious and royal texts from the Old Kingdom onward. It described the order established at creation and the standard the king was expected to uphold; royal inscriptions and temple scenes present the pharaoh as restoring maat or presenting it to the gods. In funerary religion, maat was central to the judgment of the dead: the deceased's heart was weighed against the feather of Maat, and the balance determined whether the person had lived in accordance with truth and justice.
The goddess Maat personified this order. She was associated with the sun god Ra and with Thoth, the god of writing and wisdom, and was shown as a woman wearing an ostrich feather on her head. The feather served as her emblem and as the hieroglyph connected with the word. The concept remained important through the Middle and New Kingdoms and appears in temple reliefs, tomb paintings, and Book of the Dead papyri.
Egyptian writing normally omitted vowels, so the ancient vocalization of mꜣꜥt is reconstructed; the English spellings Maat and Ma'at are conventional learned forms. The spelling Maat omits the apostrophe sometimes used in Ma'at to represent the Egyptian consonant ꜥ (ayin). In English, Maat is not an inherited traditional name but a borrowing from the Egyptian term, generally understood as a reference to the concept and goddess.
How Popular is the Name Maat?
Maat has historically been an exceptionally rare given name in the United States, remaining well outside the national mainstream. It saw its highest recorded annual births in 2020. Its best rank was #6,223 in 2020.
U.S. name popularity from 1880-2025, based on SSA data. Rank shows how the name compares with other names - lower numbers mean greater popularity. Births shows how many babies received the name each year.
| Year | Rank | Births | % |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | #12,666 | 7 | 0.0004% |
| 2024 | #7,793 | 14 | 0.0009% |
| 2023 | #14,469 | 6 | 0.0004% |
| 2022 | #10,121 | 10 | 0.0006% |
| 2021 | #7,869 | 14 | 0.0009% |
| 2020 | #6,223 | 19 | 0.0012% |
| 2019 | #9,488 | 11 | 0.0007% |
| 2018 | #6,973 | 17 | 0.0010% |
| 2017 | #9,127 | 12 | 0.0007% |
| 2016 | #7,463 | 16 | 0.0009% |
| 2015 | #9,896 | 11 | 0.0006% |
| 2014 | #10,623 | 10 | 0.0006% |
| 2013 | #14,063 | 7 | 0.0004% |
| 2012 | #14,422 | 7 | 0.0004% |
| 2010 | #18,756 | 5 | 0.0003% |
| 2008 | #19,338 | 5 | 0.0003% |
| 2005 | #18,115 | 5 | 0.0003% |
| 2002 | #17,063 | 5 | 0.0003% |
| 1999 | #13,703 | 6 | 0.0003% |
| 1998 | #13,434 | 6 | 0.0003% |
Name popularity over more than a century, based on Social Security Administration data. Gaps in the chart indicate years when the name does not appear in the published records.
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How the Name Maat Shapes Your Personality and Life?
You have psychic power. You can carry on for others with joy. You have a receptive nature and may bear burdens for others. You are pragmatic, thorough, strong-willed, practical and stubborn at times. You are hard working, often martyr to duty. You like home and security above all. You are bold, independent, inquisitive and interested in research. You know what you want and why you want it.
Position and social status is very important for you and you are always looking for way to improve your position in society. You have power and ability to chose your own destiny and achieve anything you want in life. You can expand in any direction according to your will and the set of values. You have passion for justice and belong to the position of authority. You have an inherent courage and endurance to accomplish "The Impossible Dream". With the power comes responsibility. You hold keys to the material world, but with this gift comes high spiritual responsibility to be fair and true to others. You are philosophical and mature, determined and intense with a desire to endure, often religious.
✦ Maat's Deeper Meaning & Tips for Parents Discover Maat's symbolic numbers and practical tips for choosing a name that complements your child's birth date.