Find out how popular the last name Adi is in the United States and learn more about the meaning, history, and race and ethnic origin of people in America who are named Adi.

Adi, like all of the last names we have data for, is identified by the U.S. Census Bureau as a surname which has more than 100 occurrences in the United States in the Decennial Census survey. The most recent statistics we have for the Adi surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Adi in America

Adi is the 46314th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Adi surname appeared 460 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 0 people would have the surname Adi.

We can also compare 2010 data for Adi to data from the previous census in 2000. The table below contains all of the statistics for both years in a side-by-side comparison.

The history of the last name Adi

The surname Adi has its origins in the Indian subcontinent, specifically in the Sanskrit language. It is believed to have emerged as a surname during the medieval period, around the 10th to 12th centuries. The name is derived from the Sanskrit word "adi," which means "first" or "original," suggesting that it may have been initially used as a descriptive name or title.

In ancient Indian texts, the name Adi is associated with various deities and revered figures, such as Adi Shankara, a prominent Hindu philosopher and theologian who lived in the 8th century CE. This connection to religious and philosophical figures may have contributed to the name's prestige and its adoption as a surname.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the surname Adi can be found in the Rajput clan of Mewar, located in the present-day state of Rajasthan, India. The Adi Rajputs were a powerful lineage that ruled over parts of Mewar during the medieval period, and their name is mentioned in various historical records and chronicles.

In the 16th century, the surname Adi gained prominence with the birth of Adi Granth, the sacred scripture of the Sikh faith. Compiled by the fifth Sikh Guru, Arjan Dev, the Adi Granth is considered the eternal living guru of the Sikhs, and its name, which means "first book," is derived from the same Sanskrit root as the surname Adi.

Notable individuals with the surname Adi include:

1. Adi Shankara (788-820 CE), a renowned Hindu philosopher and theologian who revived the Advaita Vedanta school of philosophy.
2. Adi Godrej (1942-), an Indian industrialist and the chairman of the Godrej Group, one of India's leading conglomerates.
3. Adi Shamir (1952-), an Israeli cryptographer and computer scientist, best known for his co-invention of the RSA cryptosystem.
4. Adi Hirshberg (1935-2021), an Israeli military officer and politician who served as a member of the Knesset (Israeli parliament).
5. Adi Ignatius (1958-), an American journalist and editor who served as the editor-in-chief of the Harvard Business Review from 2009 to 2021.

While the surname Adi has its roots in the Indian subcontinent, it has since been adopted by individuals from various cultural and ethnic backgrounds worldwide, reflecting the global reach and diversity of this ancient name.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Adi

We also have some data on the ancestry of people with the surname Adi.

The below race categories are the modified race categories used in the Census Bureau's population estimates program. All people were categorized into six mutually exclusive racial and Hispanic origin groups:

1. White only
2. Black only
3. American Indian and Alaskan Native only
4. Asian and Pacific Islander only
5. Hispanic
6. Two or More Races

For the most recent 2010 census data, the race/ethnic origin breakdown for Adi was:

Note: Any fields showing (S) means the data was suppressed for privacy so that the data does not in any way identify any specific individuals.

Since we have data from the previous census in 2000, we can also compare the values to see how the popularity of Adi has changed in the 10 years between the two census surveys.

Data source

The last name data and ethnic breakdown of last names is sourced directly from the Decennial Census survey, conducted every 10 years by the United States Census Bureau.

The history and meaning of the name Adi was researched and written by our team of onomatology and genealogy experts.

If you have a correction or suggestion to improve the history of Adi, please contact us.

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