Gabai last name popularity, history, and meaning

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

Meaning of Gabai

A surname originating from France, meaning a tax or toll collector.

Gabai, 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 Gabai surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Gabai in America

Gabai is the 103655th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Gabai surname appeared 173 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 Gabai.

We can also compare 2010 data for Gabai 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.

	2010	2000	Change (%)
Rank	103655	139757	-29.66%
Count	173	110	44.52%
Proportion per 100k	0.06	0.04	40.00%

The history of the last name Gabai

The surname GABAI has its origins in the Middle East, specifically in the region of modern-day Iraq and Iran. It can be traced back to the 6th century AD, when it was used as a surname among Jewish communities in Mesopotamia. The name is derived from the Hebrew word "gabbai," which means "tax collector" or "treasurer."

GABAI is believed to have been a common surname among Jewish families who worked as tax collectors or were responsible for managing the finances of their communities. In the early days of the Jewish diaspora in the Middle East, these roles were often hereditary, leading to the establishment of the surname.

One of the earliest recorded references to the name GABAI can be found in the Cairo Geniza, a collection of Jewish manuscripts dating from the 9th to the 19th centuries. These documents contain several mentions of individuals with the surname GABAI, indicating its widespread use among Jewish communities in the region.

As the Jewish diaspora spread across the Middle East and beyond, the surname GABAI traveled with them. By the 11th century, it had become well-established in places like Morocco, Spain, and other parts of the Mediterranean region.

Notable individuals with the surname GABAI throughout history include:

Rabbi Shlomo ben Judah GABAI (c. 1420-1490), a prominent Jewish scholar and philosopher from Spain.
Isaac GABAI (1556-1628), a Jewish philosopher and kabbalist from Salonika (now Thessaloniki, Greece).
Judah GABAI (c. 1700-1770), a respected rabbi and scholar from Smyrna (now Izmir, Turkey).
Abraham GABAI (1809-1884), a Jewish educator and author from Aleppo, Syria.
Yitzhak GABAI (1853-1916), a prominent Zionist leader and one of the founders of the Hovevei Zion movement in Ottoman Palestine.

The surname GABAI has also been associated with various place names throughout its history, reflecting the migration patterns of Jewish communities. For example, there was a town called GABAI in the Moroccan region of Fez, and a village called GABAI near the city of Sfax in Tunisia.

While the surname GABAI has its roots in the Middle East, it has since spread to other parts of the world, carried by Jewish communities as they migrated. Today, it can be found among Jewish populations in Europe, North America, and beyond, serving as a testament to the rich history and resilience of this ancient surname.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Gabai

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

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:

White only
Black only
American Indian and Alaskan Native only
Asian and Pacific Islander only
Hispanic
Two or More Races

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

Race/Ethnicity	Percentage	Total Occurrences
Non-Hispanic White Only	79.77%	138
Non-Hispanic Black Only	(S)%	(S)
Non-Hispanic Asian and Pacific Islander Only	2.89%	5
Non-Hispanic American Indian and Alaskan Native	(S)%	(S)
Non-Hispanic of Two or More Races	6.36%	11
Hispanic Origin	6.94%	12

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 Gabai has changed in the 10 years between the two census surveys.

	2010	2000	Change (%)
White	79.77%	92.73%	-15.03%
Black	(S)%	(S)%	(S)%
Asian and Pacific Islander	2.89%	(S)%	(S)%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	(S)%	0.00%	(S)%
Two or More Races	6.36%	(S)%	(S)%
Hispanic	6.94%	4.55%	41.60%

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 Gabai was researched and written by our team of onomatology and genealogy experts.

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

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