Itai
Masculine · “with me”
Ittai is Hebrew for with me, and the man who bears it in the books of Samuel is a foreigner who refuses to leave David when everyone else does.
How old is the name Itai?
Itai first appears in US birth records in 1991 — 34 years ago. The typical Itai alive today was born around 2011, making them about 14 years old. About 500 people named Itai are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Itai most popular?
Itai peaked in 2008, reaching #3921 nationally. Today it ranks #4539, 618 places below that high. See the whole 2008 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From itti to Itai
The story of Itai
When Absalom's rebellion drives David out of Jerusalem, David tells Ittai — a foreign mercenary who has been there a day — to go home and not share his exile. Ittai refuses in a short speech that says he will be wherever the king is, alive or dead. It is one of the most admired declarations of loyalty in the Hebrew Bible and it is made by an outsider. The name is well used in modern Israel.
Meaning
with me
From Hebrew itti, with me; the name is a prepositional phrase rather than a noun, which is unusual. Ittai the Gittite was a Philistine mercenary in David's service.
How the name formed
- itti
- Itai
Related forms: Ittai · Ittai
Pronouncing Itai
ee-TY
Two syllables with the stress on the second. English speakers say IT-eye.
Nicknames for Itai
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
- 1991
- Most boys named
- 200826 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #3921reached in 2008
- Change vs 2024
- +4.8%22 in 2025, from 21
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.
Itai in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Ittai in Hebrew — same name
- Ittai in English — spelling variant
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, New York, New Jersey.
Itais among us
people named Itai are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 77,640 born in 2025 was named Itai
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Itai
- #4539
- Itai on the 2025 chart
- #890
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Itai went to 22 boys in 2025, but Itay and Ittai are the same name said out loud. Together the 3 spellings went to 38, which makes it the 890th most-given boys’ name of the year — 3,649 places above the chart.
- Itai22
- Itay9
- Ittai7
About 1 boy in 44,949 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 77,640 for Itai 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 Asaf test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Itai's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Asaf climbed just as high around 1992, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Asaf's path sketches the road Itai is walking now.
Itai 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
Itai beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Itai in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- A settled meaning with a genuinely moving scene attached to it.
- Four letters and two syllables, about as easy to write as a name gets.
- Very well used in Israel, so it has a real community behind it.
- The stress moves to the front in English mouths.
- Itai, Ittai and Etai are all in use and none is dominant in English.
- The name is a prepositional phrase, which is unusual and needs explaining.
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What they receive
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Itai
Masculine · #4539 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Itais 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 Itai are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Itai?
- Itai is the most-used spelling in US records — 22 of the 38 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Itay and Ittai.
- How popular is the name Itai in 2025?
- Itai ranks #4539 among US boy names in 2025, with 22 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Itai?
- About 1 in every 77,640 US boys born in 2025 was named Itai — 22 in all.
- Will my child share the name Itai with classmates?
- Itai will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Itai
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Nels#4539 · Gabe#4539 · Michel#4539 · Elroy#4539 · Orlin#4539 · Pearce#4539 · Josemaria#4539 · Napoleon#4539
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Itai? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Itai and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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