Khoi
Masculine · “outstanding”
Khoi is given to both — 715 boys and 56 girls since 1880. See other names given to both
Khôi is a Vietnamese name meaning outstanding — the first of a group, the one who leads. It comes from a Chinese character that Vietnamese took in with its classical vocabulary.
How old is the name Khoi?
Khoi first appears in US birth records in 1979 — 46 years ago. The typical Khoi alive today was born around 2009, making them about 16 years old. About 700 people named Khoi are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Khoi most popular?
Khoi peaked in 1982, reaching #2831 nationally. Today it ranks #3379, 548 places below that high. See the whole 1982 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
The story of Khoi
Vietnamese draws a large part of its formal vocabulary from Chinese, and given names are usually chosen from that layer for their meaning. Khôi is one of them, tied to a character used for the highest-placed candidate in the old civil service examinations — an achievement that could raise a whole family. It reaches American records with Vietnamese families, and the circumflex that marks the vowel is usually dropped by American systems.
Meaning
outstanding, first among many
From the Sino-Vietnamese reading of a character meaning chief or the first in rank; the same character named the top graduate in the imperial examinations, which is where much of the name's force comes from.
Pronouncing Khoi
KHOY
One syllable, close to the English word coy but with a breathier opening consonant. English speakers usually say KOY.
Nicknames for Khoi
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
- 1979
- Most boys named
- 202534 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2831reached in 1982
- Change vs 2024
- +88.9%34 in 2025, from 18
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.
Khoi in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Khôi in Vietnamese — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas.
Khois among us
people named Khoi are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 50,238 born in 2025 was named Khoi
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Khoi
- #3379
- Khoi on the 2025 chart
- #708
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Khoi went to 34 boys in 2025, but Coy, Koi and Koy and the rest below are the same name said out loud. Together the 5 spellings went to 222, which makes it the 708th most-given boys’ name of the year — 2,671 places above the chart.
About 1 boy in 7,694 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 50,238 for Khoi 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 Abdon test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Khoi's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Abdon climbed just as high around 1915, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Abdon's path sketches the road Khoi is walking now.
Khoi 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 Khoi is headed
Khoi 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.
Khoi beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Khoi 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 tied to a real and well-documented examination tradition.
- One syllable and four letters, easy to write.
- Easy for English speakers to approximate at first sight.
- The circumflex will be dropped by American systems, which loses the vowel it marks.
- In English it sounds like koi, the ornamental carp, and that will be mentioned.
- The kh is a distinct Vietnamese consonant that English flattens to a plain k.
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Khoi
Masculine · #3379 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Khois are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 700 people named Khoi are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Khoi?
- Khoi is one of 5 recorded spellings. Coy is the more common one — 123 births in 2025 against 34 for Khoi.
- How popular is the name Khoi in 2025?
- Khoi ranks #3379 among US boy names in 2025, with 34 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Khoi?
- About 1 in every 50,238 US boys born in 2025 was named Khoi — 34 in all.
- Will my child share the name Khoi with classmates?
- Khoi will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Khoi
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Art#3379 · Sampson#3379 · Kiernan#3379 · Benyamin#3379 · Quamir#3379 · Madhav#3379 · Tuff#3379 · Hubert#3379
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Khoi? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Khoi and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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