This retrospective study explored the risk factors for the occurrence of seizures in the pre- and postoperative period in patients undergoing supratentorial meningiomas surgery to investigate those who are likely to benefit from prophylactic antiepileptic drugs (AEDs). We reviewed the medical records of 778 supratentorial meningiomas patients who were operated at our institution between 2011 and 2012. A total of 100 (12.9%) patients experienced preoperative seizures; 41 patients (5.3%) experienced postoperative in-hospital seizures, and 91 (13.5%, n = 673) patients experienced postoperative seizures after discharge. Multivariate analysis revealed that motor cortex involvement (odds ratio [OR] 3.243, P < 0.001) and peritumoral edema ≥ 1 cm (OR 3.936, P < 0.001) were significant risk factors of preoperative seizures. Whereas presenting with headache (OR 0.259, P < 0.001) and age ≥ 55 years at surgery (OR 0.514, P = 0.009) showed decreased incidence of preoperative seizures. The involvement of motor cortex (OR 3.290, P = 0.003), postoperative Karnofsky Performance Scale (KPS) ≤ 70 (OR 5.389, P < 0.001), preoperative seizure (OR 4.003, P < 0.001), and occurrence of any medical/surgical complication (OR 3.925, P = 0.001) were significant risk factors for postoperative in-hospital seizures. Postoperative seizures after discharge were associated with tumor maximal diameter ≥ 3.5 cm (OR 1.903, P = 0.022), preoperative seizures (OR 4.350, P < 0.001), postoperative in-hospital seizures (OR 6.385, P < 0.001), and tumor recurrence/progression (OR 7.642, P < 0.001). The probability of seizure freedom in the 5-year follow-up was roughly 59% among patients with preoperative seizures, and 87% among patients without preoperative seizures. Cox regression analysis showed that tumor recurrence/progression (relative risk 2.987, 95% CI 1.517, 5.879, P = 0.002) was the only predictor of postoperative seizures in patients without a history of preoperative epilepsy. The use of postoperative prophylactic antiepileptic drug (AED) did not reduce the incidence of seizures in our analysis. Understanding the risk factors for seizures might help clinicians to predict their occurrence and develop effective anti-epileptic treatment strategies. Further prospective randomized controlled trials are needed to determine the risk factors for seizures and the efficacy of AED prophylaxis. © 2019, Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.