Lai
A Thai name meaning "prosperous, calm, or serene".
Name Census estimates that about 241 living Americans carry the first name Lai. It is a predominantly female name (90.2% of registrations). The average person named Lai today is around 39 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Lai births was 1981 (21 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Lai. 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.
People living today
241
~ 1 in 1,422,217 Americans
Peak year
1981
21 babies that year
Average age
39
years old
1991 SSA rank
#6,271
Tracked since 1953
Gender
Gender distribution for Lai
Lai leans heavily female at 90.2% of total registrations, but 25 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Lai as a male name
- Ranked #6,271 in 1991
- 8 male births in 1991
- Peak: 1981 (10 births)
Lai as a female name
- Ranked #15,558 in 2015
- 6 female births in 2015
- Peak: 1984 (17 births)
Popularity
Lai: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Lai from the 1950s through to the 2010s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 111 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
Lai 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 Lai during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Lais live
Origin
Meaning and history of Lai
The name Lai has its origins in various cultures and languages around the world, each with its own unique meaning and significance.
In Chinese culture, the name Lai is a unisex name that can be written using different Chinese characters. One common spelling is 赖, which means "to rely on" or "to depend on." This name can also be written as 莱, which is associated with prosperity and growth.
In Indian languages like Hindi and Punjabi, the name Lai can be derived from the Sanskrit word "laya," meaning "dissolution" or "merger." This name is often given to individuals with a spiritual or philosophical inclination.
In Hawaiian culture, the name Lai is a variant of the name Lailai, which means "small" or "little." This name is often given to newborns or children as a term of endearment.
In ancient Egypt, the name Lai was sometimes used as a shortened version of the name Laila, which means "born at night" or "dark beauty." This name has connections to the ancient Egyptian goddess Isis.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Lai can be found in the ancient Chinese text "Shiji" (Records of the Grand Historian), written by Sima Qian in the 1st century BCE. The text mentions a man named Lai Zhide, who was a prominent military strategist during the Warring States period.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals with the name Lai, including:
1. Lai Teck (1843-1925), a prominent Malaysian businessman and philanthropist who played a significant role in the development of Malacca.
2. Lai Cho-Wah (1914-1997), a Hong Kong actress and singer who was a pioneering figure in the Cantonese opera and film industry.
3. Lai Beno (born 1934), a Nigerian sculptor and artist known for his wood carvings and contributions to contemporary African art.
4. Lai Sheng-chuan (1944-2015), a Taiwanese writer and academic who made significant contributions to the study of Chinese literature and culture.
5. Lai Chau San (born 1957), a Singaporean artist and sculptor known for his large-scale public installations and works that explore themes of identity and cultural heritage.
These are just a few examples of the diverse individuals who have borne the name Lai throughout history, each contributing to their respective fields and cultures in their own unique way.
People
Lai + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Lai as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with L
Other first names starting with L with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Lai: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Lai?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 241 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Lai 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 1,422,217 US residents.
Is Lai a common name?
We classify Lai as "Very Rare". It ranks above 76.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 256 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Lai most popular?
The single biggest year for Lai was 1981, when 21 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Lai is about 39 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Lai a female name?
Yes, 90.2% of people registered as Lai 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.
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.