Bali
Balinese name meaning "offering" or "sacrifice" in Sanskrit.
Name Census estimates that about 238 living Americans carry the first name Bali. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 82.5% of registrations being female. The average person named Bali today is around 9 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Bali births was 2022 (36 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Bali. 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 Bali with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
238
~ 1 in 1,440,144 Americans
Peak year
2022
36 babies that year
Average age
9
years old
2022 SSA rank
#6,182
Tracked since 1995
Census
Bali in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 281 people with the first name Bali, which placed it at #30,797 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
#30,797
National first-name rank
People counted
281
281 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
31.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Bali
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Bali is Asian/Pacific Islander at 31.3%. The next largest groups are White (28.8%) and Black (20.3%). 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 Bali 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 Bali at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander31.3% · 88
- White28.8% · 81
- Black or African American20.3% · 57
- Hispanic or Latino10.7% · 30
- Two or more races8.9% · 25
Gender
Gender distribution for Bali
Bali leans heavily female at 82.5% of total registrations, but 42 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Bali as a male name
- Ranked #6,520 in 2022
- 13 male births in 2022
- Peak: 2022 (13 births)
Bali as a female name
- Ranked #6,182 in 2024
- 19 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2021 (25 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Bali on both sides of the split. Of the 285 people counted with this name, 113 were male (39.6%) and 172 were female (60.4%).
Popularity
Bali: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Bali from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2020s, with 147 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Bali 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 Bali during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Bali
The name Bali finds its origins in Sanskrit, the classical language of ancient India. It is believed to have derived from the Sanskrit word "vali," which means "sacrifice" or "offering." The name is closely associated with the island of Bali in Indonesia, which was heavily influenced by Hindu culture and traditions.
In Hindu mythology, Bali was the name of an Asura king, known for his generosity and devotion to the gods. He is celebrated in the Bhagavata Purana, a revered Hindu scripture, for his willingness to sacrifice everything for the sake of upholding dharma (righteousness).
The earliest recorded use of the name Bali can be traced back to the 7th century CE, when it was mentioned in ancient Balinese inscriptions and literary works. It gained popularity among Hindus, particularly in the Indonesian archipelago, where it became a common name for boys.
One of the most notable historical figures with the name Bali was Bali Sah, a 16th-century ruler of the Kalinga Empire in present-day Odisha, India. He was known for his military prowess and for expanding the empire's territories.
Another prominent figure was Bali Reddy, a 17th-century Indian ruler of the Vijayanagara Empire, who was renowned for his administrative skills and patronage of the arts.
In the realm of literature, Bali Nath Bhushan was a celebrated 19th-century Hindi poet and writer from India, known for his works that celebrated the beauty of nature and human emotions.
The name Bali also found its way into the Islamic world, where it was adopted by several notable figures. Bali ibn Rabah al-Qushayri was a 9th-century Islamic scholar and theologian from present-day Iran, known for his contributions to the study of Sufism.
Another significant figure was Bali Efendi, a 16th-century Ottoman statesman and Grand Vizier, who played a crucial role in the expansion of the Ottoman Empire during the reign of Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent.
People
Bali + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Bali as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with B
Other first names starting with B with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Bali: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Bali?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 238 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Bali 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 1,440,144 US residents.
Is Bali a common name?
We classify Bali as "Very Rare". It ranks above 76.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 240 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Bali most popular?
The single biggest year for Bali was 2022, when 36 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Bali is about 9 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Bali in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 281 people with the name Bali, or 0.09 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #30,797 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 Bali 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 Bali?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Bali on both sides of the split. Of the 285 people counted with this name, 113 were male (39.6%) and 172 were female (60.4%). 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 Bali?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Bali is Asian/Pacific Islander at 31.3%. The next largest groups are White (28.8%) and Black (20.3%). 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 Bali most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Bali in the 2020 Census, accounting for 31.3% (88 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 Bali in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Bali a female name?
Yes, 82.5% of people registered as Bali in the SSA data are female. 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 Bali still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Bali 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 Bali 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 common is the name Bali?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.