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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Lai with official rankings and popularity over time.
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
Census
Lai in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 5,002 people with the first name Lai, which placed it at #3,908 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
#3,908
National first-name rank
People counted
5.0K
5,002 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.7
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
95.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Lai
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Lai is Asian/Pacific Islander at 95.8%. The next largest groups are Black (1.3%) and White (1.1%). 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 Lai 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 Lai at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander95.8% · 4,793
- Black or African American1.3% · 67
- White1.1% · 55
- Hispanic or Latino0.9% · 44
- Two or more races0.8% · 40
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.1% · 3
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)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Lai on both sides of the split. Of the 4,996 people counted with this name, 1,103 were male (22.1%) and 3,893 were female (77.9%).
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.
How common was Lai in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 5,002 people with the name Lai, or 1.66 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #3,908 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 Lai 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 Lai?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Lai on both sides of the split. Of the 4,996 people counted with this name, 1,103 were male (22.1%) and 3,893 were female (77.9%). 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 Lai?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Lai is Asian/Pacific Islander at 95.8%. The next largest groups are Black (1.3%) and White (1.1%). 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 Lai most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Lai in the 2020 Census, accounting for 95.8% (4,793 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 Lai in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
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.
Is Lai still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Lai 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 Lai 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 share the name Lai?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.