Isai
Hebrew name meaning "he will praise" or "he will celebrate".
Name Census estimates that about 7,084 living Americans carry the first name Isai. It is a predominantly male name (99.5% of registrations). The average person named Isai today is around 19 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Isai births was 2007 (333 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Isai. 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 Isai with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
7.1K
~ 1 in 48,384 Americans
Peak year
2007
333 babies that year
Average age
19
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,066
Tracked since 1966
Census
Isai in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 6,570 people with the first name Isai, which placed it at #3,253 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
#3,253
National first-name rank
People counted
6.6K
6,570 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
2.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
96.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Isai
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Isai is Hispanic at 96.3%. The next largest groups are White (2.0%) and Black (0.9%). 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 Isai 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 Isai at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino96.3% · 6,330
- White2.0% · 131
- Black or African American0.9% · 57
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.4% · 26
- Two or more races0.3% · 20
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.1% · 6
Gender
Gender distribution for Isai
Out of the 7,185 babies given the name Isai since 1880, 99.5% were registered as male. The name sits firmly on the male side of the spectrum, with only a handful of female registrations across the entire dataset.
Isai as a male name
- Ranked #1,066 in 2024
- 204 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2007 (333 births)
Isai as a female name
- Ranked #12,629 in 2024
- 7 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2024 (7 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Isai leans strongly male. 6,467 people counted with this name were male (98.5%), compared with 101 female bearers (1.5%).
Popularity
Isai: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Isai from the 1960s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 2,633 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Isai remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Isai 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 Isai during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Isais live
The SSA's state-level files cover 26 states and territories. California, Texas, Arizona recorded the most babies named Isai, while Michigan, Indiana, Arkansas recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 214 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Isai
The name Isai has its roots in Hebrew and Arabic origins. It is derived from the Hebrew name Yishay or Yishai, which means "gift of God" or "God's gift." This name can be traced back to the Old Testament, where it was borne by the father of King David.
In the Bible, Isai (also spelled as Jesse) was a respected man from Bethlehem who belonged to the tribe of Judah. He was the son of Obed and the father of eight sons, including David, who later became the king of Israel. Isai's story is mentioned in the Books of Samuel and Chronicles.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Isai can be found in the Dead Sea Scrolls, which date back to the 3rd century BCE. These ancient Hebrew texts contain references to individuals bearing this name.
Throughout history, there have been several notable figures who carried the name Isai. One of the most famous was Isai Musakhan (1564-1624), an Armenian poet and writer who is considered a pioneer of modern Armenian literature.
Another notable Isai was Isai Gasprinsky (1851-1914), a Crimean Tatar educator, writer, and political activist who played a significant role in the cultural and intellectual awakening of the Turkic people in the Russian Empire.
In the world of sports, Isai Rodriguez (born 1981) is a former professional boxer from Mexico who competed in the lightweight division and won multiple titles during his career.
Isai Ravyse (born 1972) is a Belgian author and playwright known for his works that explore themes of identity, memory, and human relationships.
Isai Weinfeld (1856-1943) was a Russian architect who designed several notable buildings in Moscow and St. Petersburg, including the famous Yaroslavsky Railway Station.
People
Isai + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Isai as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with I
Other first names starting with I with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Isai: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Isai?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 7,084 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Isai 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 48,384 US residents.
Is Isai a common name?
We classify Isai as "Rare". It ranks above 97.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 7,185 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Isai most popular?
The single biggest year for Isai was 2007, when 333 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Isai is about 19 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Isai in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 6,570 people with the name Isai, or 2.18 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #3,253 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 Isai 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 Isai?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Isai leans strongly male. 6,467 people counted with this name were male (98.5%), compared with 101 female bearers (1.5%). 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 Isai?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Isai is Hispanic at 96.3%. The next largest groups are White (2.0%) and Black (0.9%). 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 Isai most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Isai in the 2020 Census, accounting for 96.3% (6,330 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 Isai in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Isai a male name?
Yes, 99.5% of people registered as Isai 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 Isai still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Isai 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 Isai 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 Isai?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.