Adi
Feminine · “jewel or ornament (Hebrew)”
Adi is given to both — 945 girls and 779 boys since 1880. See Adi as a boy nameSee other names given to both
Adi is two words in two languages and both are good ones. Hebrew adi is a jewel or an ornament; Sanskrit adi is the first, the beginning, the word at the front of Adi Shankara and adivasi. Three letters, two traditions, no overlap.
How old is the name Adi?
Adi first appears in US birth records in 1974 — 51 years ago. The typical Adi alive today was born around 2007, making them about 18 years old. About 900 people named Adi are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Adi most popular?
Adi peaked in 2016, reaching #3923 nationally. Today it ranks #6546, 2,623 places below that high. See the whole 2016 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From adi to Adi
The story of Adi
Modern Hebrew naming draws heavily on ordinary vocabulary, and short unisex nature and quality words are among its most characteristic products: Adi, Tal, Or, Shai, Noa and Ori are all used for both sexes in Israel, which is unusual by European standards. Adi is among the most common of them. Independently, Sanskrit adi appears at the front of a great many Indian compounds and is used as a short form of names beginning with it, Aditya and Aditi among them. Both routes appear in United States records, and the female side of Adi has its best year in 2016, which points to the Israeli and Indian communities of the last decade rather than to anything older.
Meaningscholars disagree
jewel or ornament (Hebrew), or first and beginning (Sanskrit)
Hebrew adi means an ornament or jewel and is used as a unisex given name in Israel; it is also a short form of Adiel and Adina. Sanskrit adi means first, primal or beginning, and appears in Adi Shankara and in adivasi, original inhabitant. The two are unrelated and the English spelling cannot distinguish them.
How the name formed
- adi
- Adi
Related forms: Adi · Adi · Adi
Pronouncing Adi
AH-dee
Two syllables with the stress on the first in both Hebrew and Sanskrit. English speakers sometimes say AD-ee with a short a, which is the ordinary American adaptation.
Nicknames for Adi
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1974
- Most girls named
- 201638 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #3923reached in 2016
- Change vs 2024
- 0.0%17 in 2025, from 17
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Adi in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Adi in Hebrew — same name
- Adi in Sanskrit — related form
- Adi in Indonesian — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: New York, California, Texas.
Adis among us
people named Adi are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 94,545 born in 2025 was named Adi
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Adi
- #6546
- Adi on the 2025 chart
- #895
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Adi went to 17 girls in 2025, but Addy, Addi and Ady are the same name said out loud. Together the 4 spellings went to 65, which makes it the 895th most-given girls’ name of the year — 5,651 places above the chart.
About 1 girl in 24,727 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 94,545 for Adi itself.
Spellings are grouped by a fixed rule that folds interchangeable English spellings of one sound (ck/k, ph/f, x/ks, a non-initial y for i) and keeps vowels apart, so Sean and Shawn stay separate names. It errs towards splitting: a family here is never larger than the truth. SSA national data, 2025. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Chessa test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Adi's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Chessa climbed just as high around 1978, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Chessa's path sketches the road Adi is walking now.
Adi sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Adi beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Adi in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Three letters, two syllables, and no spelling difficulty anywhere.
- Two settled meanings available, in two unrelated languages.
- Unisex in Israel and in India alike, which some families want.
- In Israel it is used for both sexes.
- It is short enough that people will assume it abbreviates something.
- Addy and Adi are close in sound and split the records.
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What they receive
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Adi
Feminine · #6546 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Adis are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 900 people named Adi are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Adi?
- Adi is one of 4 recorded spellings. Addy is the more common one — 30 births in 2025 against 17 for Adi.
- How popular is the name Adi in 2025?
- Adi ranks #6546 among US girl names in 2025, with 17 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Adi?
- About 1 in every 94,545 US girls born in 2025 was named Adi — 17 in all.
- Will my child share the name Adi with classmates?
- Adi will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Adi
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Roseann#6546 · Solveig#6546 · Elona#6546 · Rosette#6546 · Bradie#6546 · Rida#6546 · Gwendalyn#6546 · Lorene#6546
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Adi? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Adi and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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