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Unai

#11,885 in 2025Boys' name

Shepherd, cowboy

Unai has been given to 43 babies in the U.S. since 2017. In 2025 it ranked #11,885 of 13,926 boys’ names in use. Its peak year was 2021, with 14 recorded.

Babies named Unai, 2025

1 in 553,000

Unai over time, 1880–2025

Boys
05101518801900192019401960198020002020

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Unai: meaning, origin, and history

Shepherd, cowboy

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Unai means

Unai means “shepherd, cowboy”, associated with unai.

Origin, language, and formation

Unai is used in Basque and Spanish.

Pronunciation and spelling

In Basque, Unai is pronounced /unai̯/.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 43 boys were recorded with the name Unai between 2017 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 14 in 2021; its best national rank was #6,309 in 2021.

Over 5 years its rank fell, from #9,494 in 2020 to #11,885 in 2025.

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 Unai?

Everything below is computed from the 2025 data — the most recent year available.

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 553,000
6 of 3,315,165 births
Among boys only
1 in 285,000
<0.01% of boys
Rank, 2025
#11,885
of 13,926 boys’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
382,984 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Unai sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Liam (20,818)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 2025 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 382,984 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Unai. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Unais were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Unai was born before 2021 — so the typical Unai is around 4 today.

Median birth year
2021
About 4 years old
Biggest decade
2020s
88.4% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
100.0%
A modern name
Recorded since 1950
43
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

2020s — 88.4% of all recorded uses (38).

Is Unai 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
+2,217
Places climbed
Rank vs 5 years ago
−2,391
Places dropped
Rank vs 10 years ago
—
Not ranked then
Births vs 10 years ago
—
Not published both years
Share of its own peak
42.9%
Peak was 2021 (14)
Years since peak
4
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Volatile
31.7% average annual change
Best rank ever
#6,309
2021

Spellings of Unai

Unai is not the most common spelling — Kai is, with 56.3% against Unai's 0.03%.

Grouped by closeness of spelling (up to two letter changes), same sex, with a floor on all-time use. It catches Sophia/Sofia and Aiden/Ayden, and misses spellings that sound alike but look different, like Sean and Shawn.

Unai around the world

Where Unai 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
    2014–2018
    #3,959
    in 2018
  • France
    1994–2025
    #1,417
    in 2025

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics and Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques. ONS data under Open Government Licence v3.0. INSEE data under Licence Ouverte / Etalab 2.0.

Unai by the numbers

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

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
#11,885
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Down 2,391
Best rank ever
#6,309
2021
Peak year
2021
14 that year
First recorded
2017
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
43
Count in 2025
6

Names similar to Unai

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

YanaiNaiJanaiSinaiSanaiKeenaiKanaiSenaiEnaiYannaiElioenaiElionaiJahnaiCanaiDanaiJonaiKenaiAdonaiElienai

Sibling names for Unai

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 Unai

Top names of 2021, Unai's peak yearThe 2020s in fullOther names that peaked in 2021Boys' names starting with UBasque Boy Names