Avishai
A masculine Hebrew name meaning "my father is a gift".
Name Census estimates that about 264 living Americans carry the first name Avishai. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Avishai today is around 13 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Avishai births was 2022 (20 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Avishai. 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 Avishai with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
264
~ 1 in 1,298,312 Americans
Peak year
2022
20 babies that year
Average age
13
years old
2024 SSA rank
#7,277
Tracked since 1996
Census
Avishai in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 277 people with the first name Avishai, which placed it at #31,090 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
#31,090
National first-name rank
People counted
277
277 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
70.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Avishai
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Avishai is White at 70.8%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (9.0%) and Hispanic (8.3%). 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 Avishai 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 Avishai at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White70.8% · 196
- Asian and Pacific Islander9.0% · 25
- Hispanic or Latino8.3% · 23
- Black or African American6.1% · 17
- Two or more races5.4% · 15
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.4% · 1
Popularity
Avishai: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Avishai from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 114 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Avishai remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Avishai 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 Avishai during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Avishais live
Origin
Meaning and history of Avishai
The name Avishai originates from Hebrew, derived from the elements "av" meaning father and "shai" meaning gift or present. It can be interpreted as "my father's gift" or "gift of my father." The name's roots trace back to ancient Israel, where it was used among the Hebrew people during biblical times.
In the Hebrew Bible, the name Avishai appears as a prominent figure and is mentioned in several contexts. One notable reference is found in the Book of Samuel, where Avishai is depicted as a warrior and one of King David's chief military commanders. He is described as a valiant and loyal soldier who played a significant role in David's military campaigns.
The earliest recorded use of the name Avishai can be traced back to the 11th century BCE, during the reign of King David in ancient Israel. However, it is likely that the name was in use even earlier among the Israelite tribes.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Avishai. One of the most well-known is Avishai Braverman (1948-1976), an Israeli soldier and politician who served in the Knesset (Israeli parliament) and was killed in action during the 1976 Lebanon War.
Another prominent figure is Avishai Margalit (1939-2022), an Israeli philosopher and author who made significant contributions to the fields of ethics, political philosophy, and human rights.
Avishai Dekel (born 1977) is an Israeli professional basketball player who has represented the Israeli national team and played in various professional leagues around the world.
Avishai Cohen (born 1970) is a renowned Israeli jazz bassist and composer who has collaborated with many influential musicians and has released numerous critically acclaimed albums.
Avishai Raviv (born 1975) is an Israeli computer scientist and entrepreneur, known for co-founding the cybersecurity company Cynet and his contributions to the field of cyber threat intelligence.
These are just a few examples of notable individuals who have carried the name Avishai throughout history, highlighting its enduring presence and significance across various fields and cultures.
People
Avishai + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Avishai 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
Avishai: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Avishai?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 264 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Avishai 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 1,298,312 US residents.
Is Avishai a common name?
We classify Avishai as "Very Rare". It ranks above 77.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 266 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Avishai most popular?
The single biggest year for Avishai was 2022, when 20 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Avishai 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 Avishai in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 277 people with the name Avishai, or 0.09 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #31,090 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 Avishai 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 Avishai?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Avishai leans strongly male. 263 people counted with this name were male (96.0%), compared with 11 female bearers (4.0%). 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 Avishai?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Avishai is White at 70.8%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (9.0%) and Hispanic (8.3%). 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 Avishai most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Avishai in the 2020 Census, accounting for 70.8% (196 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 Avishai in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Avishai a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Avishai 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 Avishai still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Avishai 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 Avishai 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 Avishai?
Find out how many people share the name Avishai on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.