Mei (Japanese: , Mandarin: 美) is a feminine given name used in various cultures, particularly Japan and China.

Possible writings

Mei can be written using different kanji characters and can mean: *, "sprout, garment" *, "sprout, reliant" *, "bright, reliant" *, "ring or echo" The name can also be written in hiragana or katakana. Mei can also be written using different Chinese characters: *美, "beautiful" *梅, "

Chinese plum Chinese plum is a common name for several plants and may refer to: * '' Prunus mume'' * '' Prunus salicina'', native to China * Loquat The loquat (''Eriobotrya japonica'') is a large evergreen shrub or tree, grown commercially for its orange f ...

People with the given name Mei

From Japan

* Mei (singer) (目井 or 姪), a 12th-century Japanese female puppeteer, prostitute, and ''

imayō Japanese poetry is poetry typical of Japan, or written, spoken, or chanted in the Japanese language, which includes Old Japanese, Early Middle Japanese, Late Middle Japanese, and Modern Japanese, as well as poetry in Japan which was written in th ...

''-style singer. She taught ''imayō'' to

Otomae was a Japanese singer. She was a virtuoso performer of the popular songs of that period – '' imayō'' (今様) – and was the foremost authority on the form, which had been passed down through generations of female teachers. In her seventies, ...

, who in turn taught Emperor Goshirakawa. *

May J. , better known by her stage name May J., is a Japanese pop and R&B singer who made her major label debut under Sony Music Japan on July 12, 2006, with her first mini-album '' All My Girls''. She was born to an Iranian mother and Japanese father. ...

(芽生), a Japanese R&B singer *, Japanese ice hockey player *

May Nakabayashi , better known by her stage name , is a Japanese singer from Nagoya. Aspiring to become a musician since childhood, she began her music activities in 2003 upon passing an audition held by talent agency Horipro International. She made her major d ...

(芽依), a Japanese J-Pop artist *

Mei Kurokawa is a Japanese actress and singer. Her given name ''Mei'' originates from her birth month (May) in English. She has been frequently featured in many Japanese dramas and Kaidan Shin Mimibukuro: Yūrei Mansion films. Filmography Film * (2005) * ...

, (芽以), a Japanese actress and singer * Mei Nagano (芽郁), a Japanese actress * Mei Shigenobu (メイ), the daughter of Japanese Red Army communist Fusako Shigenobu * Mei Yamazaki (山崎愛生, born 2005) a Japanese singer who is a member of the J-pop girl group Morning Musume

From China

Mei Fong Mei Fong (born August 8, 1972), also known as Fong Foongmei (), is a Malaysian-born American journalist who was staff reporter for the China bureau for ''The Wall Street Journal''. In April 2007, she was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for International ...

(方凤美), a Chinese-American journalist. * Mei Lin (actress) (梅琳), a Chinese actress. *

Mei Hong (chemist) Mei Hong (born 1970) is a Chinese-American biophysical chemist and professor of chemistry at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She is known for her creative development and application of solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (ssNMR) sp ...

, a Chinese-American chemist. * Hong Mei (athlete) (洪梅), a female Chinese athlete.

From other countries

* Mei Joni, an Indonesian basketball player.

Fictional characters with the given name Mei

Japanese characters

*, a character in the manga series ''Black Butler'' *, a character in the picture book and animated movie '' Arashi no Yoru ni'' *, a character in the manga series ''O-Parts Hunter'' *, a character in the tokusatsu television series ''Kyōryū Sentai Zyuranger'' *, a character in the manga '' Citrus'' *, a character in the manga series '' Gakuen Utopia Manabi Straight!'' *, a character in the anime series ''

High School Fleet , also known as , is a Japanese anime television series produced by Production IMS. Yuu Nobuta directed the anime and Reiko Yoshida handled the series composition, with character designs by Naoto Nakamura and original character designs by Atto ...

'' *, a character in the anime film '' My Neighbor Totoro'' *, a character in the novel ''Another'' *, a character in the manga series ''

Ace of Diamond is a Japanese baseball-themed manga series written and illustrated by Yuji Terajima. It was serialized in Kodansha's ''shōnen'' manga magazine ''Weekly Shōnen Magazine'' from May 2006 to January 2015. A sequel titled ''Ace of Diamon ...

'' *, a character in the manga series ''Love Hina'' *, a character in the visual novel ''Clannad'' *, protagonist of the manga series '' Say "I love you"'' *, a character in the manga and anime series ''Naruto'' *, a character in the manga and anime series ''Ouran High School Host Club'' *, a main character in the manga series ''Fullmetal Alchemist'' *Mei Hayakawa (早川芽衣), a character in the manga series ''

Scum's Wish is a Japanese manga series by Mengo Yokoyari. It was serialized in Square Enix's ''seinen'' manga magazine ''Big Gangan'' from September 2012 to March 2017, and has been collected in eight ''tankōbon'' volumes. Both an anime television s ...

'' *Mei Hatsume (発目明) a character in the manga series " My Hero Academia"

Chinese characters

* Mei Chang. a Chinese woman who runs the prison commissary in the series

Orange Is the New Black ''Orange Is the New Black'' (sometimes abbreviated to ''OITNB'') is an American comedy-drama streaming television series created by Jenji Kohan for Netflix. The series is based on Piper Kerman's memoir '' Orange Is the New Black: My Year in a Wo ...

. * Li Mei, a character in the ''Mortal Kombat'' series *

Mei (Overwatch) Mei (; or in Taiwan), full name Dr. Mei-Ling Zhou (), is a fictional, playable character appearing in the 2016 video game ''Overwatch'', a team-based first-person shooter developed by Blizzard Entertainment. Outside of ''Overwatch'', Mei als ...

, a playable character in ''Overwatch'' and ''Heroes of the Storm'' * Mei Lee, a fictional character from '' Turning Red''

References

{{given name Chinese feminine given names Japanese feminine given names ja:メイ