Name Awesome

Zhi

UnisexBoys' nameGirls' name

Will, purpose, ambition or wisdom, intellect

Zhi has been given to 193 babies in the U.S. since 1988. 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 2001, with 19 recorded. It's used for both sexes: 91% boys, 9% girls all-time.

Babies named Zhi, 2024

1 in 557,000

Zhi over time, 1880–2025

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Girls or boys — Zhi over time

In 2024, Zhi went to 0% girls and 100% boys.

19882024

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.

Zhi: meaning, origin, and history

Will, purpose, ambition or wisdom, intellect

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Zhi means

Zhi means “will, purpose, ambition or wisdom, intellect”.

Documented naming usage and pronunciation

Zhi is used in Chinese.

Another recorded pronunciation is /ʈ͡ʂɻ̩/ for Zhi.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 176 boys were recorded with the name Zhi between 1988 and 2024. Its highest annual count was 19 in 2001; its best national rank was #4,295 in 2001.

In the United States, 17 girls were recorded with the name Zhi between 2003 and 2009. Its highest annual count was 7 in 2009; its best national rank was #15,218 in 2009.

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.

How common is Zhi?

Zhi had fewer than 5 recorded uses in 2025, so these figures use 2024, the last year it was published.

Among all babies, 2024
1 in 557,000
6 of 3,342,801 births
Among boys only
1 in 287,000
<0.01% of boys
Rank, 2024
Unranked
Fewer than 5 uses
Coin-flip room size
386,177 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Zhi 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 2024 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 386,177 children born in 2024 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Zhi. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Zhis were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Zhi was born before 2006 — so the typical Zhi is around 19 today.

Median birth year
2006
About 19 years old
Biggest decade
2000s
52.8% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
85.8%
A modern name
Recorded since 1950
176
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

2000s — 52.8% of all recorded uses (93).

Is Zhi 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 2001 (19)
Years since peak
24
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Volatile
30.9% average annual change
Best rank ever
#4,295
2001

Where Zhi is used

Across 1910–2025, Zhi was most concentrated in New York — about 1 in — boys, against 1 in 222,064 across all states with data.

00 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1New York1 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. Zhi has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Zhi around the world

Where Zhi 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
    1999–2023
    #4,992
    in 2023
  • Scotland
    2005–2014
    #680
    in 2014
  • Northern Ireland
    2002–2002
    #281
    in 2002
  • Ireland
    2002–2014
    #715
    in 2014
  • Canada
    1993–2020
    #2,753
    in 2020
  • South Australia
    1999–2011
    #784
    in 2011

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, National Records of Scotland, Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency, Central Statistics Office, Statistics Canada and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS, NRS, NISRA data under Open Government Licence v3.0. CSO, CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0. StatCan data under Statistics Canada Open Licence.

Zhi by the numbers

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

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
—
Best rank ever
#4,295
2001
Peak year
2001
19 that year
First recorded
1988
Last recorded
2024
All-time count
176
Count in 2025
Under 5

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
—
Best rank ever
#15,218
2009
Peak year
2009
7 that year
First recorded
2003
Last recorded
2009
All-time count
17
Count in 2025
Under 5

Names similar to Zhi

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

ZhionZhianZhiyuanZhivagoZhixingZhiheng

Sibling names for Zhi

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 Zhi

Top names of 2001, Zhi's peak yearThe 2000s in fullOther names that peaked in 2001Boys' names starting with Z