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Ai

Girls' name

Multiple documented origins; meaning depends on tradition

Ai has been given to 403 babies in the U.S. since 1974. It was used fewer than 5 times in 2025, so it doesn't appear in the latest year's list — today it's a genuinely uncommon pick. Its peak year was 1991, with 19 recorded.

Babies named Ai, 2021

1 in 339,000

Ai over time, 1880–2025

GirlsBoys
0510152018801900192019401960198020002020

Based on births in the U.S. Babies given the name each year. Hover the chart — or focus it and use the arrow keys — for any year. Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Ai: meaning, origin, and history

Multiple documented origins; meaning depends on tradition

Japanese

What Ai means

Ai has more than one naming route in the cited origin entries: distinct naming traditions.

The naming story behind Ai

One of the source’s documented entries for Ai records a meaning of love, affection.

Origin, language, and formation

Ai is used in English. Its origins include Japanese.

Ai comes through Japanese あい.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 392 girls were recorded with the name Ai between 1974 and 2021. Its highest annual count was 19 in 1991; its best national rank was #4,999 in 1991.

In the United States, 11 boys were recorded with the name Ai between 1981 and 1987. Its highest annual count was 6 in 1981; its best national rank was #5,481 in 1981.

Sources & methodologyReferences, data & attribution

Meaning, origin, and language notes draw on the references below.

American popularity figures use published Social Security Administration records for this exact spelling. Counts below five for a name, sex, and year are omitted.

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

How common is Ai?

Ai had fewer than 5 recorded uses in 2025, so these figures use 2021, the last year it was published.

Among all babies, 2021
1 in 339,000
10 of 3,389,958 births
Among girls only
1 in 164,000
<0.01% of girls
Rank, 2021
Unranked
Fewer than 5 uses
Coin-flip room size
234,975 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Ai sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Olivia (13,544)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 2021 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.

Class of 20Under 1%
Class of 30Under 1%
Grade of 100Under 1%
School of 500Under 1%

Put another way: gather 234,975 children born in 2021 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Ai. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Ais were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Ai was born before 1999 — so the typical Ai is around 26 today.

Median birth year
1999
About 26 years old
Biggest decade
2000s
29.1% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
54.8%
A modern name
Recorded since 1950
392
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

2000s — 29.1% of all recorded uses (114).

Is Ai rising or falling?

Rank movement and count movement can disagree — the number of distinct names in use keeps growing, so a name holding a steady count still slides down the list. Both are shown.

Rank vs 1 year ago
—
Not ranked then
Rank vs 5 years ago
New entry
Not ranked then
Rank vs 10 years ago
—
Not ranked then
Births vs 10 years ago
—
Not published both years
Share of its own peak
0%
Peak was 1991 (19)
Years since peak
34
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Volatile
32.9% average annual change
Best rank ever
#4,999
1991

Where Ai is used

Across 1910–2025, Ai was most concentrated in California — about 1 in — girls, against 1 in 838,799 across all states with data. It was least common in New York (1 in —).

00 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1California1 in —
  2. 2New York1 in —

Shading is the share of that state's recorded girls given this name, not the raw count — otherwise the map would just show which states are biggest. Unshaded states have no published records for this period. U.S. birth records suppress state-year counts below 5; state counts therefore don't add up to the national total. Every state links to its full rankings. Ai has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Ai around the world

Where Ai ranks in official birth records elsewhere in the world. Rankings only — the number of births isn’t comparable between places, so it isn’t shown.

  • England & Wales
    1996–2014
    #5,691
    in 2014
  • France
    1979–2011
    #6,156
    in 2011
  • Canada
    1992–2018
    #2,174
    in 2018
  • South Australia
    1978–2008
    #533
    in 2008

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques, Statistics Canada and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS data under Open Government Licence v3.0. INSEE data under Licence Ouverte / Etalab 2.0. StatCan data under Statistics Canada Open Licence. CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0.

Ai by the numbers

The raw record for each sex the name is used for.

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
—
Best rank ever
#4,999
1991
Peak year
1991
19 that year
First recorded
1974
Last recorded
2021
All-time count
392
Count in 2025
Under 5

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
—
Best rank ever
#5,481
1981
Peak year
1981
6 that year
First recorded
1981
Last recorded
1987
All-time count
11
Count in 2025
Under 5

Names similar to Ai

Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.

AiriAivyAisaAiyaAimaAilyAimiAinaSaiAivaCaiNaiAilahAilieAidelAirisAidyAixaAiaAiraAizahAiyahAiliAija

Sibling names for Ai

Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.

Explore around Ai

Top names of 1991, Ai's peak yearThe 1990s in fullOther names that peaked in 1991Girls' names starting with AChinese Girl Names