Ni
A Chinese unisex name meaning "promise" or "oath".
Name Census estimates that about 21 living Americans carry the first name Ni. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Ni today is around 25 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Ni births was 2005 (7 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Ni. 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.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Ni. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
21
~ 1 in 16,321,635 Americans
Peak year
2005
7 babies that year
Average age
25
years old
2014 SSA rank
#18,480
Tracked since 1983
Popularity
Ni: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Ni from the 1980s through to the 2010s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 12 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Ni remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Ni 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 Ni during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Ni
The given name Ni has its origins in ancient Chinese culture, dating back to the Zhou Dynasty (1046–256 BC). It is derived from the Chinese character 妳, which means "you" in the feminine form, and was traditionally used as a polite term of address for women.
In Chinese mythology, Ni is associated with the goddess Xi Wangmu, also known as the Queen Mother of the West. She was a prominent figure in Taoism and was believed to be the ruler of the sacred mountains and the bestower of longevity and immortality.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Ni can be found in the classic Chinese text "The Book of Odes" (Shijing), which dates back to the 6th–7th centuries BC. The name appears in several poems, often used as a term of endearment or respect for women.
Throughout Chinese history, several notable figures have borne the name Ni. One such individual was Ni Zan (1301–1374), a renowned Chinese painter and calligrapher during the Yuan Dynasty. Another was Ni Yuanlu (1593–1644), a famous scholar and writer who lived during the Ming Dynasty.
In more recent times, the name Ni has been associated with influential women in various fields. Ni Tsyr-Huey (1903–1989) was a pioneering Taiwanese feminist and educator who played a significant role in advancing women's rights and education in Taiwan.
Another notable figure was Ni Ching (1935–2012), a celebrated Chinese-American novelist and essayist known for her works exploring the experiences of Chinese immigrants in the United States.
Ni Tjen (1924–2008) was a prominent Indonesian writer and journalist who made significant contributions to the development of modern Indonesian literature.
While the name Ni has its roots in ancient Chinese culture, it has also been adopted and used in various other cultures and contexts throughout history, reflecting the diverse and far-reaching influence of Chinese civilization.
People
Ni + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Ni as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with N
Other first names starting with N with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Ni: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Ni?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 21 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Ni 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 16,321,635 US residents.
Is Ni a common name?
We classify Ni as "Very Rare". It ranks above 40.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 22 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Ni most popular?
The single biggest year for Ni was 2005, when 7 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Ni is about 25 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Ni a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Ni 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.