Aadi
A masculine Indian name meaning "the first" or "beginning".
Name Census estimates that about 1,132 living Americans carry the first name Aadi. It is a predominantly male name (98.6% of registrations). The average person named Aadi today is around 13 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Aadi births was 2008 (76 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Aadi. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Aadi with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Aadi is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 13 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
1.1K
~ 1 in 302,787 Americans
Peak year
2008
76 babies that year
Average age
13
years old
2024 SSA rank
#2,705
Tracked since 2003
Census
Aadi in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 923 people with the first name Aadi, which placed it at #13,172 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#13,172
National first-name rank
People counted
923
923 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
86.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Aadi
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Aadi is Asian/Pacific Islander at 86.9%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (5.0%) and Hispanic (3.8%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Aadi described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Aadi at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander86.9% · 802
- Two or more races5.0% · 46
- Hispanic or Latino3.8% · 35
- White3.0% · 28
- Black or African American0.8% · 7
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.5% · 5
Gender
Gender distribution for Aadi
Aadi leans heavily male at 98.6% of total registrations, but 16 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Aadi as a male name
- Ranked #2,705 in 2024
- 48 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2008 (76 births)
Aadi as a female name
- Ranked #14,580 in 2013
- 6 female births in 2013
- Peak: 2013 (6 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Aadi leans strongly male. 880 people counted with this name were male (95.3%), compared with 43 female bearers (4.7%).
Popularity
Aadi: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Aadi from the 2000s through to the 2020s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 506 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Aadi remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Aadi by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Aadi during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Aadis live
The SSA's state-level files cover 9 states and territories. California, New Jersey, Texas recorded the most babies named Aadi, while Washington, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 54 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Aadi
The name Aadi has its origins in the Sanskrit language, one of the oldest and most influential languages in the world. Sanskrit is an ancient Indo-Aryan language that originated in the Indian subcontinent and has had a profound impact on various cultures and belief systems throughout history.
The name Aadi is derived from the Sanskrit word "ādi," which means "first," "beginning," or "primordial." It is often associated with the divine and the fundamental principles of existence. In Hindu philosophy, Aadi is considered a significant concept, representing the source or the origin from which all things emerge.
One of the earliest and most notable references to the name Aadi can be found in the Vedas, the sacred scriptures of Hinduism. The Rigveda, one of the four Vedas, mentions the term "Aadi" in several hymns, often in the context of praising the divine and acknowledging the primordial nature of existence.
Aadi has also been a popular name throughout Indian history, with various famous personalities bearing this moniker. One of the earliest recorded instances is Aadi Shankara, a renowned Hindu philosopher and theologian who lived in the 8th century CE. He was a prominent figure in the Advaita Vedanta tradition and is credited with reviving and popularizing the study of ancient Hindu scriptures.
Another notable figure named Aadi was Aadi Shankaracharya, a spiritual leader and scholar who lived in the 9th century CE. He was a prominent figure in the Smarta tradition of Hinduism and is renowned for his contributions to the consolidation and systematization of Hindu philosophy.
In the realm of literature, Aadi Markandeya was a celebrated Sanskrit poet and playwright who lived in the 7th century CE. He is best known for his works such as the Markandeya Purana and the play Trishanku-Charita, which are considered important literary works in the Indian tradition.
Moving forward in time, Aadi Narayana Mudaliar was a prominent Indian freedom fighter and social reformer who lived in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He played a significant role in the Indian independence movement and worked tirelessly for the upliftment of marginalized communities.
Another notable figure named Aadi was Aadi Godrej, an Indian industrialist and philanthropist who lived from 1857 to 1936. He founded the Godrej Group, one of India's largest conglomerates, and was instrumental in the growth and development of the company.
These are just a few examples of the many individuals throughout history who have borne the name Aadi, highlighting its deep-rooted cultural and historical significance in various spheres of society.
People
Aadi + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Aadi as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with A
Other first names starting with A with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Aadi: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Aadi?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,132 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Aadi going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 302,787 US residents.
Is Aadi a common name?
We classify Aadi as "Rare". It ranks above 90.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,142 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Aadi most popular?
The single biggest year for Aadi was 2008, when 76 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Aadi is about 13 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Aadi in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 923 people with the name Aadi, or 0.31 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #13,172 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Aadi in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Aadi?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Aadi leans strongly male. 880 people counted with this name were male (95.3%), compared with 43 female bearers (4.7%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Aadi?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Aadi is Asian/Pacific Islander at 86.9%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (5.0%) and Hispanic (3.8%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Aadi most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Aadi in the 2020 Census, accounting for 86.9% (802 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Aadi in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Aadi a male name?
Yes, 98.6% of people registered as Aadi in the SSA data are male. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Aadi still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Aadi in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Aadi can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people are called Aadi?
You can see how many people share the name Aadi on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.