Ami
Feminine · “friend”
Ami is given to both — 7,678 girls and 422 boys since 1880. See other names given to both
Ami is French for a friend, Japanese when written with the right characters, and Hebrew for my people — three names sharing three letters.
How old is the name Ami?
Ami first appears in US birth records in 1947 — 78 years ago. The typical Ami alive today was born around 1982, making them about 43 years old. About 7,400 people named Ami are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Ami most popular?
Ami peaked in 1975, reaching #525 nationally. Today it ranks #4661, 4,136 places below that high. See the whole 1975 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
Our story of Ami
Ours, offered as ours. The Hebrew am, a people, is one of those words that does a great deal of quiet work — it is in Amos, in Ammiel, in the phrase am Yisrael, and it means a people in the sense of the group one belongs to rather than a population. Naming a child my people places her inside that. The French friend and the Japanese Ami are entirely separate arrivals at the same three letters.
Meaningscholars disagree
friend; or my people
French ami is a friend, from Latin amicus. Hebrew ami means my people, from am. Japanese Ami is written with chosen kanji, often for Asia and beauty. The three are unrelated and all are in use.
Pronouncing Ami
AH-mee
Two syllables, first stressed. French gives ah-MEE.
Nicknames for Ami
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
- 1947
- Most girls named
- 1975334 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #525reached in 1975
- Change vs 2023
- −60.8%29 in 2025, from 74
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.
Ami in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Ami in French — related form
- 亜美 in Japanese — related form
- Ami in Hebrew — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, New York, Texas.
Amis among us
people named Ami are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 55,423 born in 2025 was named Ami
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Ami
- #4661
- Ami on the 2025 chart
- #256
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Ami went to 29 girls in 2025, but Amy and Ammy are the same name said out loud. Together the 3 spellings went to 1,269, which makes it the 256th most-given girls’ name of the year — 4,405 places above the chart.
About 1 girl in 1,267 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 55,423 for Ami 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 Toby test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Ami's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Toby climbed just as high around 1936, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Toby's path sketches the road Ami is walking now.
Ami 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
Where Ami is headed
Ami should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind. Its history is short or jumpy, though, so read this as a sketch rather than a promise.
Low confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Ami beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Ami in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Three unrelated traditions produce it, each with a good meaning.
- Three letters and two syllables — about as short as a name gets.
- Read correctly on sight in most languages.
- Amy is far more familiar in America and will be written for her.
- The stress differs between the French and American readings.
- The three source languages mean entirely different things.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
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Ami
Feminine · #4661 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Amis are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 7,400 people named Ami are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Ami?
- Ami is one of 3 recorded spellings. Amy is the more common one — 1,200 births in 2025 against 29 for Ami.
- How popular is the name Ami in 2025?
- Ami ranks #4661 among US girl names in 2025, with 29 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Ami?
- About 1 in every 55,423 US girls born in 2025 was named Ami — 29 in all.
- Will my child share the name Ami with classmates?
- Ami will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Ami
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Ellenor#4661 · Roselie#4661 · Marni#4661 · Menucha#4661 · Infinity#4661 · Lilya#4661 · Railyn#4661 · Zada#4661
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Ami? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Ami and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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