Itai
An uncommon masculine Japanese name meaning "agony" or "pain".
Name Census estimates that about 517 living Americans carry the first name Itai. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Itai today is around 16 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Itai births was 2008 (26 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Itai. 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 Itai with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
517
~ 1 in 662,968 Americans
Peak year
2008
26 babies that year
Average age
16
years old
2024 SSA rank
#4,754
Tracked since 1991
Census
Itai in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 645 people with the first name Itai, which placed it at #17,212 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
#17,212
National first-name rank
People counted
645
645 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
73.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Itai
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Itai is White at 73.6%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (16.4%) and Black (5.0%). 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 Itai 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 Itai at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White73.6% · 475
- Hispanic or Latino16.4% · 106
- Black or African American5.0% · 32
- Two or more races3.1% · 20
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.9% · 12
Popularity
Itai: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Itai 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 184 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Itai remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Itai 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 Itai during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Itais live
Origin
Meaning and history of Itai
The given name Itai is a Hebrew name that dates back to ancient times. Its origins can be traced to the Biblical period, and it is believed to be derived from the Hebrew word "itti," which means "with me."
In the Old Testament, there is a mention of a man named Itai the Gittite, who was one of the loyal companions of King David. Itai was a Philistine from the city of Gath, and he remained faithful to David during his flight from Absalom's rebellion.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Itai can be found in the Book of Samuel, where it is mentioned that Itai the Gittite crossed the Kidron Valley with King David and his men as they fled from Jerusalem.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Itai. One of the most famous was Itai ben Moshe, a prominent Jewish scholar and philosopher who lived in the 11th century. He was born in Lucca, Italy, and was known for his contributions to the study of Jewish law and ethics.
Another notable Itai was Itai ben Yosef, a prominent Talmudic scholar who lived in the 16th century. He was born in Safed, Ottoman Palestine, and was known for his expertise in Jewish law and his commentaries on the Talmud.
In the 19th century, Itai Hayyim ben Yosef Hacohen Rappaport was a prominent Jewish scholar and author from Lithuania. He wrote several influential works on Jewish law and philosophy, including a commentary on the Shulchan Arukh, a code of Jewish law.
In more recent times, Itai Gadasi was an Israeli painter and sculptor who lived from 1926 to 1994. He was known for his abstract and expressionist works, and his art is displayed in several museums and galleries around the world.
While the name Itai is primarily associated with the Hebrew language and Jewish culture, it has also been adopted by other cultures and languages over time, with variations in spelling and pronunciation.
People
Itai + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Itai 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
Itai: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Itai?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 517 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Itai 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 662,968 US residents.
Is Itai a common name?
We classify Itai as "Very Rare". It ranks above 84.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 523 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Itai most popular?
The single biggest year for Itai was 2008, when 26 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Itai is about 16 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Itai in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 645 people with the name Itai, or 0.21 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #17,212 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 Itai 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 Itai?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Itai leans strongly male. 595 people counted with this name were male (92.2%), compared with 50 female bearers (7.8%). 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 Itai?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Itai is White at 73.6%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (16.4%) and Black (5.0%). 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 Itai most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Itai in the 2020 Census, accounting for 73.6% (475 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 Itai in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Itai a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Itai 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 Itai still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Itai 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 Itai 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 Itai?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many people share the name Itai at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.