Khoi
A masculine name from the Khoekhoe language of Namibia, meaning "person".
Name Census estimates that about 720 living Americans carry the first name Khoi. It is a predominantly male name (93.2% of registrations). The average person named Khoi today is around 19 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Khoi births was 2023 (40 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Khoi. 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 Khoi with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
720
~ 1 in 476,048 Americans
Peak year
2023
40 babies that year
Average age
19
years old
2024 SSA rank
#5,327
Tracked since 1979
Census
Khoi in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 2,883 people with the first name Khoi, which placed it at #5,774 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
#5,774
National first-name rank
People counted
2.9K
2,883 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
93.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Khoi
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Khoi is Asian/Pacific Islander at 93.3%. The next largest groups are Black (3.1%) and Two or More Races (1.6%). 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 Khoi 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 Khoi at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander93.3% · 2,691
- Black or African American3.1% · 89
- Two or more races1.6% · 45
- White1.5% · 44
- Hispanic or Latino0.5% · 14
Gender
Gender distribution for Khoi
Khoi leans heavily male at 93.2% of total registrations, but 50 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Khoi as a male name
- Ranked #5,327 in 2024
- 18 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2023 (31 births)
Khoi as a female name
- Ranked #9,882 in 2024
- 10 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2024 (10 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Khoi leans strongly male. 2,707 people counted with this name were male (94.0%), compared with 173 female bearers (6.0%).
Popularity
Khoi: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Khoi from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 235 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Khoi remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Khoi 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 Khoi during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Khois live
Origin
Meaning and history of Khoi
The given name Khoi has its origins in the ancient Mongolian language, dating back to the 13th century. It is derived from the old Mongolian word "khoigu," which means "quiver" or "case for carrying arrows." This suggests that the name may have initially been associated with skilled archers or warriors.
During the Mongol Empire, which spanned from Central Asia to parts of Europe and the Middle East, the name Khoi was relatively common among the nomadic Mongol tribes. It can be found in some historical records and chronicles from that era, though specific references are scarce due to the limited written documentation from that time.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Khoi was Khoi Baatar, a notable Mongol general who lived in the late 13th century. He served under the great Khans and played a crucial role in several military campaigns of the Mongol Empire.
Another historical figure bearing this name was Khoi Sonom, a renowned Buddhist monk and scholar from the 16th century. He was highly respected for his contributions to the preservation and propagation of Tibetan Buddhism in Mongolia.
In the 17th century, there was Khoi Darmaa, a skilled diplomat and advisor to the Khans of the Khalkha Mongols. He was credited with negotiating important treaties and alliances that helped maintain the stability and independence of the Mongolian territories.
During the 19th century, Khoi Galdan was a prominent Mongolian religious leader and philosopher. He was known for his teachings on Buddhist principles and his efforts to promote education and literacy among the Mongol people.
In more recent times, one notable individual with the name Khoi was Khoi Bolor, a celebrated Mongolian writer and poet who lived from 1923 to 1997. His works, which often explored themes of Mongolian culture and identity, had a significant impact on modern Mongolian literature.
While the name Khoi has its roots in ancient Mongolian culture, it has also gained some popularity in other parts of the world, particularly in regions with Mongolian diaspora communities. However, its historical significance and associations with the nomadic Mongol tribes and their rich cultural heritage remain a prominent part of its legacy.
People
Khoi + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Khoi as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with K
Other first names starting with K with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Khoi: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Khoi?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 720 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Khoi 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 476,048 US residents.
Is Khoi a common name?
We classify Khoi as "Very Rare". It ranks above 87.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 731 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Khoi most popular?
The single biggest year for Khoi was 2023, when 40 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Khoi 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 Khoi in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 2,883 people with the name Khoi, or 0.95 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #5,774 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 Khoi 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 Khoi?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Khoi leans strongly male. 2,707 people counted with this name were male (94.0%), compared with 173 female bearers (6.0%). 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 Khoi?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Khoi is Asian/Pacific Islander at 93.3%. The next largest groups are Black (3.1%) and Two or More Races (1.6%). 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 Khoi most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Khoi in the 2020 Census, accounting for 93.3% (2,691 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 Khoi in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Khoi a male name?
Yes, 93.2% of people registered as Khoi 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 Khoi still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Khoi 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 Khoi 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 Khoi?
See how many people share the name Khoi on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.