Hai
Masculine · “sea”
Hai is given to both — 567 boys and 21 girls since 1880. See other names given to both
Hai is a one-syllable Vietnamese name that can mean the sea, and in the south of Vietnam the same word, as a number, is what families call their eldest child. It has been given to boys and a few girls in America.
How old is the name Hai?
Hai first appears in US birth records in 1975 — 50 years ago. The typical Hai alive today was born around 1986, making them about 39 years old. About 500 people named Hai are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Hai most popular?
Hai peaked in 1983, reaching #1429 nationally. See the whole 1983 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Hải to Hai
The story of Hai
Vietnamese given names are chosen for meaning, and Hải, the sea, is a common name for boys. The unmarked word hai means two, and it has a special use in the south: there the eldest child is called Hai, number two, rather than number one, by a custom whose origin is argued over, so an eldest brother is Anh Hai and an eldest sister Chị Hai. Vietnamese families brought the name to America, where it is given mostly to boys.
Meaningscholars disagree
sea, ocean
As a given name, Hải usually means sea, from the Sino-Vietnamese word for the ocean. Written without its tone mark, Hai is also the Vietnamese word for two, and the two cannot be told apart on an American record.
How the name formed
- Hải
- Hai
Related forms: Hải · Hai
Pronouncing Hai
HY
One syllable, rhyming with high. In Vietnamese, Hải has a dipping tone that English does not use.
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
- 1975
- Most boys named
- 198344 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1429reached in 1983
- Change vs 2013
- +33.3%8 in 2015, from 6
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.
Hai in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Hải in Vietnamese — same name
- Hai in Mandarin Chinese — transliteration
Hais among us
people named Hai are estimated to be alive in the US today
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
Questions parents actually ask
Fashion outlook
Hai sits outside the current charts, and that is its own kind of answer: naming cycles can only date the names they carried up. A name this rare has no decade stamped on it — it cannot go out of fashion, because it was never in.
Based on 146 years of naming cycles. How we read them
The trade-off
- It is short and easy to say.
- Its meaning, the sea, is clear and appealing.
- English speakers will hear hi, the greeting, and Japanese speakers will hear yes.
- A few girls have been given it; for them it will read as a boy's name to Vietnamese speakers.
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Hai
Masculine
Frequently asked
- How many Hais are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 500 people named Hai are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Hai in 2025?
- Hai is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 boy names.
- Will my child share the name Hai with classmates?
- Hai will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More H names
The most-given names starting with H, all years combined.
Henry#5 · Harold#991 · Harry#775 · Howard#1002 · Hunter#130 · Herbert#2641 · Herman#2363 · Harvey#251
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Hai? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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