Achai
Hebrew name meaning "my brother" or "brotherly".
Name Census estimates that about 6 living Americans carry the first name Achai. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Achai today is around 19 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Achai births was 2007 (6 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Achai. 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.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Achai. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
6
~ 1 in 57,125,723 Americans
Peak year
2007
6 babies that year
Average age
19
years old
2007 SSA rank
#10,937
Tracked since 2007
Popularity
Achai: popularity over time
Babies born per year
Decades
Achai 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 Achai during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
| Decade | Male | Female | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2000s | 6 | 0 | 6 |
Origin
Meaning and history of Achai
The name Achai is of Hebrew origin, derived from the Biblical figure Achan, who was a member of the Israelite tribe of Judah. The name is believed to have originated during the Iron Age period, around the 12th to 6th centuries BCE, when the Israelites inhabited the region of ancient Canaan.
The name Achai is a variant spelling of the Hebrew name Akhan, which means "troubler" or "affliction." According to the Book of Joshua in the Hebrew Bible, Achan disobeyed God's command and kept some of the spoils from the conquest of Jericho, leading to the Israelites' defeat at Ai. This biblical story is often cited as the origin of the name and its meaning.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Achai can be found in the Dead Sea Scrolls, a collection of ancient Jewish religious texts dating back to the 3rd century BCE. The name is also mentioned in some Talmudic literature from the early centuries of the common era.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Achai. One of the most famous was Achai ben Shallum, a renowned Jewish scholar and leader who lived in the 7th century CE. He was a prominent figure in the Jewish community of Babylon and played a pivotal role in the development of Talmudic law.
Another notable figure with the name Achai was Achai Gaon, a prominent Jewish rabbi and scholar who lived in the 8th century CE. He was the head of the prestigious Pumbedita Academy in Babylon and made significant contributions to the study of Jewish law and tradition.
In the Middle Ages, Achai ben Yosef was a renowned Jewish philosopher and theologian from Spain, who lived in the 12th century CE. He was known for his works on Jewish philosophy and his commentary on the Torah.
During the Renaissance period, Achai ben Yosef Barzillai was a prominent Italian Jewish scholar and physician who lived in the 16th century CE. He was widely respected for his knowledge of medicine and Jewish studies.
In more recent times, Achai Mendelsohn was a notable Israeli historian and academic who lived from 1924 to 2020. He was a prominent scholar of Jewish history and the history of the Middle East, and served as a professor at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
People
Achai + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Achai 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
Achai: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Achai?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 6 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Achai 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 57,125,723 US residents.
Is Achai a common name?
We classify Achai as "Very Rare". It ranks above 22.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 6 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Achai most popular?
The single biggest year for Achai was 2007, when 6 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Achai is about 19 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
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 Achai in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Achai a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Achai 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 Achai still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Achai 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 Achai 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.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only covers names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files do not have a published Census demographic snapshot. In those cases, the page still shows the SSA trend, gender history, and state data.
How common is the name Achai?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.