May

Derived from Maia, the Roman goddess of growth whose festival fell in the fifth month of the Julian calendar. In English use, it also emerged as a medieval pet form for Mary and Margaret. American birth records show it climbing rapidly in the late nineteenth century alongside other calendar and botanical names.

The name reads like a pressed leaf found between the pages of an old hymnal. It has three letters, zero decorative syllables, and no interest in drawing out a conversation. A May is typically pictured as either remarkably elderly or under the age of five, as the middle generations mostly passed it by. She is assumed to be punctual.