Hai
A Vietnamese unisex name meaning "ocean" or "maritime".
Name Census estimates that about 565 living Americans carry the first name Hai. It is a predominantly male name (96.4% of registrations). The average person named Hai today is around 38 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Hai births was 1983 (50 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Hai. 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 Hai with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
565
~ 1 in 606,645 Americans
Peak year
1983
50 babies that year
Average age
38
years old
2015 SSA rank
#7,629
Tracked since 1975
Census
Hai in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 11,511 people with the first name Hai, which placed it at #2,261 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
#2,261
National first-name rank
People counted
12K
11,511 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
3.8
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
96.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Hai
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Hai is Asian/Pacific Islander at 96.7%. The next largest groups are White (1.8%) and Two or More Races (0.8%). 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 Hai 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 Hai at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander96.7% · 11,129
- White1.8% · 203
- Two or more races0.8% · 88
- Hispanic or Latino0.4% · 43
- Black or African American0.4% · 41
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.1% · 7
Gender
Gender distribution for Hai
Hai leans heavily male at 96.4% of total registrations, but 21 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Hai as a male name
- Ranked #9,036 in 2015
- 8 male births in 2015
- Peak: 1983 (44 births)
Hai as a female name
- Ranked #7,629 in 1984
- 8 female births in 1984
- Peak: 1984 (8 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Hai on both sides of the split. Of the 11,511 people counted with this name, 9,174 were male (79.7%) and 2,337 were female (20.3%).
Popularity
Hai: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Hai from the 1970s through to the 2010s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 310 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1980s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Hai 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 Hai during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Hais live
The SSA's state-level files cover 3 states and territories. California, Texas, Louisiana recorded the most babies named Hai, while Louisiana, Texas, California recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 52 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Hai
The name Hai has its origins in the Hebrew language and culture. It is derived from the Hebrew word "chai," which means "life" or "alive." The name has been in use since ancient times and is believed to have been first recorded in Hebrew scriptures and religious texts.
One of the earliest recorded references to the name Hai can be found in the Bible, specifically in the Book of Ezra, where a man named Hai is mentioned as one of the Levites who returned to Jerusalem from Babylonian captivity in the 5th century BCE.
In the later centuries, the name Hai became popular among Jewish communities throughout Europe and the Middle East. One notable figure bearing this name was Hai Gaon, a renowned Jewish scholar and leader of the Academy of Sura in Babylonia, who lived from around 939 CE to 1038 CE.
Another prominent individual with the name Hai was Hai ben Sherira, a prominent Jewish scholar and philosopher from Mesopotamia who lived in the 10th century CE. He was known for his contributions to Talmudic literature and his works on Jewish law and philosophy.
In the 12th century CE, Hai ben Bakoudah was a renowned Jewish philosopher and poet from Spain. He was known for his works on ethics and philosophy, as well as his poetic contributions to the Hebrew liturgy.
Moving forward in history, Hai Gaon II was a prominent Jewish scholar and leader of the Academy of Sura in Babylonia, who lived in the late 11th century CE. He was known for his contributions to Talmudic studies and his efforts to revive the Academy of Sura during a period of decline.
In the 19th century, Hai Gaon III was a respected Jewish scholar and leader of the Jewish community in Baghdad, Iraq. He was known for his works on Jewish law and his efforts to promote Jewish education and scholarship in the region.
These are just a few examples of notable individuals throughout history who bore the name Hai, which has its roots in the ancient Hebrew language and culture, and has been associated with life, vitality, and scholarly pursuits within Jewish communities over the centuries.
People
Hai + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Hai as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with H
Other first names starting with H with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Hai: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Hai?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 565 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Hai 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 606,645 US residents.
Is Hai a common name?
We classify Hai as "Very Rare". It ranks above 85.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 588 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Hai most popular?
The single biggest year for Hai was 1983, when 50 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Hai is about 38 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Hai in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 11,511 people with the name Hai, or 3.81 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #2,261 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 Hai 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 Hai?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Hai on both sides of the split. Of the 11,511 people counted with this name, 9,174 were male (79.7%) and 2,337 were female (20.3%). 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 Hai?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Hai is Asian/Pacific Islander at 96.7%. The next largest groups are White (1.8%) and Two or More Races (0.8%). 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 Hai most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Hai in the 2020 Census, accounting for 96.7% (11,129 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 Hai in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Hai a male name?
Yes, 96.4% of people registered as Hai 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 Hai still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Hai 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 Hai 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 Americans are named Hai?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.