Avi
A masculine Hebrew name meaning "my father".
Name Census estimates that about 6,489 living Americans carry the first name Avi. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 87.6% of registrations being male. The average person named Avi today is around 17 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Avi births was 2022 (424 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Avi. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Avi with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Avi is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 17 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
6.5K
~ 1 in 52,821 Americans
Peak year
2022
424 babies that year
Average age
17
years old
2024 SSA rank
#842
Tracked since 1949
Census
Avi in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 6,230 people with the first name Avi, which placed it at #3,389 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#3,389
National first-name rank
People counted
6.2K
6,230 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
2.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
57.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Avi
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Avi is White at 57.1%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (21.5%) and Hispanic (10.4%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Avi described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Avi at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White57.1% · 3,560
- Asian and Pacific Islander21.5% · 1,338
- Hispanic or Latino10.4% · 650
- Two or more races7.1% · 442
- Black or African American3.4% · 213
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.4% · 27
Gender
Gender distribution for Avi
Avi leans heavily male at 87.6% of total registrations, but 816 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Avi as a male name
- Ranked #842 in 2024
- 288 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2022 (366 births)
Avi as a female name
- Ranked #5,026 in 2024
- 26 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2022 (58 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Avi leans strongly male. 5,292 people counted with this name were male (84.9%), compared with 938 female bearers (15.1%).
Popularity
Avi: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Avi from the 1940s through to the 2020s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 2,295 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Avi remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Avi by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Avi during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Avis live
The SSA's state-level files cover 27 states and territories. New York, California, New Jersey recorded the most babies named Avi, while South Carolina, Missouri, Alabama recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 157 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Avi
The given name Avi has its origins in the Hebrew language. It is derived from the Hebrew word "av," which means "father" or "ancestor." The name can be traced back to ancient Semitic cultures and the biblical era.
In the Hebrew Bible, the name Avi appears as a component in several compound names, such as Abijah (meaning "Yahweh is my father") and Abimelech (meaning "father of a king"). The name Avi itself is not mentioned as a standalone name in the Bible, but its linguistic roots are deeply embedded in the Hebrew language and cultural tradition.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Avi can be found in the Talmud, a central text of Rabbinic Judaism. Avi ben Nachman, a Jewish scholar and sage from the 3rd century CE, is mentioned in the Talmud. He was known for his wisdom and contributions to Jewish law and tradition.
Throughout history, several notable figures have borne the name Avi. One prominent example is Avi Shlaim, an Israeli historian and professor born in 1945. He is known for his works on the Arab-Israeli conflict and has authored several influential books on the subject.
Another notable individual named Avi is Avi Arad, an Israeli-American businessman and former CEO of Marvel Studios. Born in 1948, Arad played a pivotal role in the development and success of several Marvel superhero films, including the X-Men and Spider-Man franchises.
In the world of literature, Avi is the pen name of Edward Irving Wortis, an American author of children's books born in 1937. He has written numerous acclaimed works, including the Newbery Medal-winning novel "The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle."
Avi Cohen, an Israeli singer and songwriter born in 1956, is another notable figure with this name. He is known for his contributions to Israeli pop music and has released several successful albums throughout his career.
Finally, Avi Lerner, an Israeli-American film producer born in 1947, has made significant contributions to the film industry. He is the co-founder of Nu Image and Millennium Films, two prominent production companies responsible for various action and thriller movies.
These are just a few examples of notable individuals throughout history who have borne the name Avi, reflecting its enduring presence and cultural significance across various fields and regions.
People
Avi + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Avi as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with A
Other first names starting with A with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Avi: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Avi?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 6,489 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Avi going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 52,821 US residents.
Is Avi a common name?
We classify Avi as "Rare". It ranks above 97% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 6,604 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Avi most popular?
The single biggest year for Avi was 2022, when 424 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Avi is about 17 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Avi in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 6,230 people with the name Avi, or 2.06 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #3,389 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Avi in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Avi?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Avi leans strongly male. 5,292 people counted with this name were male (84.9%), compared with 938 female bearers (15.1%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Avi?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Avi is White at 57.1%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (21.5%) and Hispanic (10.4%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Avi most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Avi in the 2020 Census, accounting for 57.1% (3,560 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Avi in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Avi a male name?
Yes, 87.6% of people registered as Avi in the SSA data are male. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Avi still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Avi in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Avi can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many Americans are named Avi?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.