Xin
A Chinese unisex given name meaning "honest, sincere, loyal."
Name Census estimates that about 238 living Americans carry the first name Xin. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 87.1% of registrations being female. The average person named Xin today is around 18 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Xin births was 2007 (28 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Xin. 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 Xin with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
238
~ 1 in 1,440,144 Americans
Peak year
2007
28 babies that year
Average age
18
years old
2012 SSA rank
#10,715
Tracked since 1999
Census
Xin in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 8,199 people with the first name Xin, which placed it at #2,820 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
#2,820
National first-name rank
People counted
8.2K
8,199 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
2.7
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
97.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Xin
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Xin is Asian/Pacific Islander at 97.3%. The next largest groups are White (1.8%) and Black (0.4%). 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 Xin 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 Xin at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander97.3% · 7,981
- White1.8% · 146
- Black or African American0.4% · 31
- Two or more races0.3% · 28
- Hispanic or Latino0.1% · 12
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.0% · 1
Gender
Gender distribution for Xin
Xin leans heavily female at 87.1% of total registrations, but 31 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Xin as a male name
- Ranked #10,715 in 2012
- 7 male births in 2012
- Peak: 2007 (8 births)
Xin as a female name
- Ranked #17,480 in 2023
- 5 female births in 2023
- Peak: 2005 (20 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Xin on both sides of the split. Of the 8,198 people counted with this name, 3,579 were male (43.7%) and 4,619 were female (56.3%).
Popularity
Xin: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Xin from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 167 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
Xin 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 Xin during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Xins live
Origin
Meaning and history of Xin
The given name Xin has its origins in Chinese culture and language. It is a unisex name that can be used for both males and females. The name is derived from the Chinese word 'xīn' which translates to 'heart' or 'mind' in English. It is a single-character name that has been in use for centuries in various parts of China.
The earliest recorded instances of the name Xin can be found in ancient Chinese literature and historical texts. It was a popular name during the Han Dynasty (206 BC – 220 AD) and continued to be widely used throughout the subsequent dynasties. The name was often given to children with the hope that they would grow up to be kind-hearted and intellectually curious individuals.
One of the earliest and most notable historical figures with the name Xin was Xin Qiji, a famous calligrapher and scholar who lived during the Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD). He was renowned for his exceptional calligraphic skills and his contributions to the development of the regular script style.
Another prominent figure from Chinese history with the name Xin was Xin Xialing, a celebrated female poet and writer who lived during the Song Dynasty (960-1279 AD). Her poetry and literary works were highly regarded and influential during her time.
In more recent history, Xin Sheng was a notable Chinese mathematician and physicist who made significant contributions to the field of relativity theory in the early 20th century. He was born in 1892 and passed away in 1968.
Xin Fengxia was a Chinese revolutionary and political activist who played a pivotal role in the Chinese Communist Revolution. She was born in 1890 and dedicated her life to the cause of overthrowing the Qing Dynasty and establishing a socialist state.
Xin Yuanren, born in 1895 and died in 1976, was a renowned Chinese linguist and philologist. He made significant contributions to the study of Chinese dialects and the development of Chinese linguistics.
The name Xin has been carried through generations in Chinese culture, representing the values of wisdom, compassion, and intellectualism. While its popularity may have fluctuated over time, it remains a culturally significant name with deep historical roots.
People
Xin + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Xin as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with X
Other first names starting with X with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Xin: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Xin?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 238 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Xin 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 1,440,144 US residents.
Is Xin a common name?
We classify Xin as "Very Rare". It ranks above 76.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 241 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Xin most popular?
The single biggest year for Xin was 2007, when 28 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Xin is about 18 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Xin in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 8,199 people with the name Xin, or 2.71 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #2,820 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 Xin 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 Xin?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Xin on both sides of the split. Of the 8,198 people counted with this name, 3,579 were male (43.7%) and 4,619 were female (56.3%). 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 Xin?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Xin is Asian/Pacific Islander at 97.3%. The next largest groups are White (1.8%) and Black (0.4%). 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 Xin most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Xin in the 2020 Census, accounting for 97.3% (7,981 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 Xin in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Xin a female name?
Yes, 87.1% of people registered as Xin 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 Xin still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Xin 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 Xin 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 called Xin?
You can see how many people share the name Xin on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.