Zai
#5,038 in 2025UnisexBoys' nameGirls' nameMeaning not yet documented
Zai has been given to 318 babies in the U.S. since 2004. In 2025 it ranked #5,038 of 13,926 boys’ names in use. Its peak year was 2024, with 28 recorded. It's used for both sexes: 78% boys, 22% girls all-time.
Babies named Zai, 2025
1 in 166,000
Zai over time, 1880–2025
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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.
Girls or boys — Zai over time
In 2025, Zai went to 23% girls and 77% boys.
A sex is only published in years it reached five applications, so a stretch at 0% or 100% means the other side stayed under that floor — not that it was never used.
How common is Zai?
Everything below is computed from the 2025 data — the most recent year available.
- Among all babies, 2025
- 1 in 166,000
- 20 of 3,315,165 births
- Among boys only
- 1 in 85,400
- <0.01% of boys
- Rank, 2025
- #5,038
- of 13,926 boys’ names in use
- Coin-flip room size
- 114,896 kids
- Even odds of a second one
Where Zai sits on the popularity scale
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.
Put another way: gather 114,896 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Zai. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.
When Zais were born
Half of everyone ever recorded as Zai was born before 2020 — so the typical Zai is around 5 today.
- Biggest decade
- 2020s
- 56.3% of all use
- Born in the last 25 years
- 100.0%
- A modern name
- Recorded since 1950
- 247
- People you could plausibly meet
2020s — 56.3% of all recorded uses (139).
Is Zai 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
- −1,060
- Places dropped
- Rank vs 5 years ago
- −622
- Places dropped
- Rank vs 10 years ago
- +3,683
- Places climbed
- Births vs 10 years ago
- 2.22×
- More babies than then
- Share of its own peak
- 71.4%
- Peak was 2024 (28)
- Years since peak
- 1
- Years
- Year-to-year steadiness
- Volatile
- 42.3% average annual change
Where Zai is used
Across 1910–2025, Zai was most concentrated in California — about 1 in — boys, against 1 in 1,750,142 across all states with data. It was least common in Texas (1 in —).
Most concentrated
- 1California1 in —
- 2Florida1 in —
- 3Texas1 in —
Shading is the share of that state's recorded boys 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. Zai has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.
Zai around the world
Where Zai 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 & Wales2012–2025#5,137in 2025
- Canada2020–2020#2,570in 2020
- South Australia2004–2009#473in 2009
Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, Statistics Canada and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS data under Open Government Licence v3.0. StatCan data under Statistics Canada Open Licence. CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0.
Zai by the numbers
The raw record for each sex the name is used for.
As a boy's name
Names similar to Zai
Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.
Sibling names for Zai
Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.