Tai
Derived from Chinese, meaning "big" or "great".
Name Census estimates that about 4,719 living Americans carry the first name Tai. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 63.0% of registrations being male. The average person named Tai today is around 27 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Tai births was 1980 (199 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Tai. 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 Tai with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Tai sits in rare territory as a truly gender-neutral name, given to boys and girls in near-equal numbers.
People living today
4.7K
~ 1 in 72,633 Americans
Peak year
1980
199 babies that year
Average age
27
years old
2024 SSA rank
#2,409
Tracked since 1922
Census
Tai in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 10,096 people with the first name Tai, which placed it at #2,453 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
#2,453
National first-name rank
People counted
10K
10,096 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
3.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
64.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Tai
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Tai is Asian/Pacific Islander at 64.0%. The next largest groups are Black (12.7%) and White (10.3%). 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 Tai 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 Tai at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander64.0% · 6,458
- Black or African American12.7% · 1,281
- White10.3% · 1,036
- Two or more races8.9% · 901
- Hispanic or Latino3.8% · 381
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.4% · 39
Gender
Gender distribution for Tai
Tai is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 4,873 total registrations, 3,069 (63.0%) were male and 1,804 (37.0%) were female.
Tai as a male name
- Ranked #2,409 in 2024
- 58 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2004 (133 births)
Tai as a female name
- Ranked #8,867 in 2024
- 12 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1980 (159 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Tai on both sides of the split. Of the 10,097 people counted with this name, 7,707 were male (76.3%) and 2,390 were female (23.7%).
Popularity
Tai: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Tai from the 1920s through to the 2020s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 1,404 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Tai 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 Tai during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Tais live
The SSA's state-level files cover 24 states and territories. California, New York, Texas recorded the most babies named Tai, while Wisconsin, Oregon, Arkansas recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 66 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Tai
The name Tai is believed to have its origins in various Asian cultures and languages. In Thai, the name can mean "freedom" or "air," while in Chinese, it can be interpreted as "great" or "supreme." Additionally, in Japanese, the name Tai can signify "thick" or "plentiful."
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Tai can be found in ancient Chinese texts, where it was often used as a title or honorific for esteemed individuals. It was also a common name among the ruling classes and nobility in various dynasties throughout Chinese history.
In the realm of historical figures, one notable individual with the name Tai was Tai Zong, an emperor of the Tang Dynasty who reigned from 626 to 649 CE. He is renowned for his military conquests, administrative reforms, and patronage of the arts and literature during his reign.
Another prominent figure bearing the name Tai was Tai Shang, a Chinese philosopher and religious figure who lived during the 2nd century CE. He is credited with founding the Way of the Celestial Masters, a significant Taoist movement that influenced the development of Chinese religion and spirituality.
Moving to Japan, the name Tai has also been associated with several historical personalities. One such figure was Tai no Yakamochi, a renowned Japanese waka poet who lived during the 8th century CE. His works are included in the prestigious Manyoshu, one of the oldest existing collections of Japanese poetry.
In more recent times, Tai Chi Chuan, a renowned Chinese martial art and practice for cultivating physical and mental well-being, was developed by Tai Chi masters such as Chen Wangting, who lived in the 17th century CE. The name Tai in this context is often associated with the philosophical and spiritual aspects of this ancient practice.
Lastly, the name Tai has also been popularized in various forms of entertainment and popular culture. For instance, Tai Borden was a character in the popular American television series "Sister, Sister," which aired in the 1990s and early 2000s, further contributing to the recognition and familiarity of the name in Western societies.
People
Tai + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Tai as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with T
Other first names starting with T with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Tai: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Tai?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 4,719 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Tai 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 72,633 US residents.
Is Tai a common name?
We classify Tai as "Rare". It ranks above 96.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 4,873 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Tai most popular?
The single biggest year for Tai was 1980, when 199 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Tai is about 27 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Tai in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 10,096 people with the name Tai, or 3.34 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #2,453 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 Tai 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 Tai?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Tai on both sides of the split. Of the 10,097 people counted with this name, 7,707 were male (76.3%) and 2,390 were female (23.7%). 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 Tai?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Tai is Asian/Pacific Islander at 64.0%. The next largest groups are Black (12.7%) and White (10.3%). 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 Tai most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Tai in the 2020 Census, accounting for 64.0% (6,458 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 Tai in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Tai a male name?
Yes, 63.0% of people registered as Tai 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 Tai still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Tai 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 Tai 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 are named Tai?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.