How rare is the name Wai?

5,502 people in the United States have the first name Wai, about 1 in 54,895. It ranks #3,694 of 53,615 first names in the 2020 Census, tied with 1 other.

first name

WAI

#3,694

of 53,615 first names recorded in the 2020 Census

People
5,502
About
1 in 54,895
This common or more
82.9%
Who bears it

Of the 5,502 people named Wai, 98.5% reported their origin as Asian or Pacific Islander. 51.1% are male. These count how people described themselves on the 2020 Census, not where the name comes from.

Wai peaked in 1982, when 26 babies got the name.

Births per year, SSA records 1880–2025
19701999
Peak year
1982
Births that year
26
In 1999
5 ▼81%
Recorded as
mostly male

At least 262 babies have been given the name since 1970. Years SSA withheld, because fewer than 5 were born, are skipped rather than drawn as zero.

Wai by decade

Among all names given to American babies, its best decade was the 1980s, when it ranked #8,329. The largest share of babies named Wai, 58.8%, were born between 1981 and 1996, as millennials.

1970s#8,79390
1980s#8,329133
1990s#21,10239
Generation X 1965–8037.4%
Millennials 1981–9658.8%
Generation Z 1997–123.8%

Rank counts both sexes together, among every name SSA recorded that decade; the number under it is births. Generation years follow Pew Research Center, which has not named a generation after 2012.

Exactly as common as Wai

1 other first name also has 5,502 people.

#3,694 Camren · 5,502

Either side of Wai

#3,693 Abdiel · 5,503#3,694 Camren · 5,502#3,696 Chan · 5,500#3,697 Gannon · 5,498

Spelled almost the same

3 first names in the 2020 Census spelled within a letter or two of Wai, most common first.

#11,403 Wah · 1,125#17,521 Wa · 628#24,941 Way · 383

Also a last name

As a last name, Wai ranks #18,559 of 156,621, with 1,469 people. See Wai as a last name

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