Sai
A masculine name of Indian origin representing a spiritual leader or saint.
Name Census estimates that about 2,037 living Americans carry the first name Sai. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 78.0% of registrations being male. The average person named Sai today is around 17 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Sai births was 2019 (96 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Sai. 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 Sai with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Sai 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
2.0K
~ 1 in 168,264 Americans
Peak year
2019
96 babies that year
Average age
17
years old
2024 SSA rank
#2,162
Tracked since 1972
Census
Sai in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 5,704 people with the first name Sai, which placed it at #3,589 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
#3,589
National first-name rank
People counted
5.7K
5,704 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.9
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
86.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Sai
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Sai is Asian/Pacific Islander at 86.9%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (3.4%) and White (3.3%). 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 Sai 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 Sai at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander86.9% · 4,958
- Two or more races3.4% · 192
- White3.3% · 187
- Hispanic or Latino3.3% · 187
- Black or African American2.8% · 159
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.4% · 21
Gender
Gender distribution for Sai
Sai is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 2,066 total registrations, 1,611 (78.0%) were male and 455 (22.0%) were female.
Sai as a male name
- Ranked #2,162 in 2024
- 68 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2019 (81 births)
Sai as a female name
- Ranked #6,571 in 2024
- 18 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2020 (24 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Sai on both sides of the split. Of the 5,716 people counted with this name, 4,129 were male (72.2%) and 1,587 were female (27.8%).
Popularity
Sai: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Sai from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 680 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Sai remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Sai 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 Sai during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Sais live
The SSA's state-level files cover 12 states and territories. California, Texas, New York recorded the most babies named Sai, while Tennessee, Minnesota, Maryland recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 48 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Sai
The name Sai has its origins in the Sanskrit language, which is an ancient Indo-Aryan language spoken in the Indian subcontinent. The name's earliest recorded use dates back to ancient Hindu scriptures and texts from around 1500 BCE.
In Sanskrit, the word "sai" means "the divine" or "the supreme being." It is believed to be derived from the Sanskrit root word "sat," which means "being" or "existence." The name Sai is often associated with various Hindu deities and spiritual leaders.
One of the earliest and most significant historical references to the name Sai can be found in the Bhagavad Gita, a sacred Hindu scripture that is a part of the epic Mahabharata. In the Bhagavad Gita, Lord Krishna is referred to as "Sai" or "Saiyam," which means "the highest truth" or "the ultimate reality."
Throughout history, there have been several notable figures who have borne the name Sai. One of the most well-known is Sai Baba of Shirdi (1838-1918), a renowned Indian spiritual master and saint who is revered by both Hindus and Muslims.
Another prominent figure with the name Sai is Sai Shyam Sundar Das (1799-1878), a Hindu saint and poet from Bengal, India, who is known for his devotional poetry and his contribution to the Baul tradition.
In the 20th century, Sai Baba of Puttaparthi (1926-2011), also known as Sathya Sai Baba, was a highly influential spiritual leader and philanthropist from Andhra Pradesh, India. He gained a massive following worldwide and established numerous charitable organizations.
The name Sai has also been used by other notable individuals, such as Sai Paranjpye (born 1938), an Indian filmmaker and screenwriter, and Sai Pallavi (born 1992), a popular Indian actress who has appeared in several Telugu and Malayalam films.
Sai Reddy (1931-2011) was an Indian classical singer and musician, known for his contributions to the Hindustani classical music tradition. He was awarded the prestigious Padma Bhushan, India's third-highest civilian honor, for his exceptional work in the field of music.
People
Sai + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Sai as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with S
Other first names starting with S with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Sai: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Sai?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2,037 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Sai 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 168,264 US residents.
Is Sai a common name?
We classify Sai as "Rare". It ranks above 93.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,066 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Sai most popular?
The single biggest year for Sai was 2019, when 96 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Sai 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 Sai in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 5,704 people with the name Sai, or 1.89 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #3,589 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 Sai 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 Sai?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Sai on both sides of the split. Of the 5,716 people counted with this name, 4,129 were male (72.2%) and 1,587 were female (27.8%). 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 Sai?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Sai is Asian/Pacific Islander at 86.9%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (3.4%) and White (3.3%). 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 Sai most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Sai in the 2020 Census, accounting for 86.9% (4,958 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 Sai in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Sai a male name?
Yes, 78.0% of people registered as Sai 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 Sai still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Sai 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 Sai 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 people share the name Sai?
Find out how many Americans are named Sai on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.