Wei
A masculine Chinese name derived from the word for "greatness" or "power".
Name Census estimates that about 350 living Americans carry the first name Wei. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 78.2% of registrations being male. The average person named Wei today is around 33 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Wei births was 2001 (20 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Wei. 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 Wei with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
350
~ 1 in 979,298 Americans
Peak year
2001
20 babies that year
Average age
33
years old
2017 SSA rank
#9,637
Tracked since 1970
Census
Wei in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 17,176 people with the first name Wei, which placed it at #1,757 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
#1,757
National first-name rank
People counted
17K
17,176 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
5.7
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
98.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Wei
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Wei is Asian/Pacific Islander at 98.1%. The next largest groups are White (1.2%) and Two or More Races (0.3%). 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 Wei 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 Wei at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander98.1% · 16,847
- White1.2% · 205
- Two or more races0.3% · 52
- Hispanic or Latino0.2% · 37
- Black or African American0.2% · 35
Gender
Gender distribution for Wei
Wei is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 362 total registrations, 283 (78.2%) were male and 79 (21.8%) were female.
Wei as a male name
- Ranked #9,637 in 2017
- 8 male births in 2017
- Peak: 1998 (18 births)
Wei as a female name
- Ranked #20,422 in 2007
- 5 female births in 2007
- Peak: 1987 (9 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Wei on both sides of the split. Of the 17,173 people counted with this name, 9,987 were male (58.2%) and 7,186 were female (41.8%).
Popularity
Wei: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Wei from the 1970s through to the 2010s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 141 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1990s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Wei 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 Wei during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Weis live
Origin
Meaning and history of Wei
The given name Wei has its origins in Chinese languages and cultures. It is a monosyllabic Chinese name that dates back centuries. The name Wei is derived from the Old Chinese word 'wee', which means 'tiny' or 'small'. It was originally used to describe someone petite in stature or of a meek nature.
Wei appears in several ancient Chinese texts and records. One of the earliest references is found in the Book of Songs, a collection of ancient folk songs and poems dating back to the 6th century BC. The name is also mentioned in the historical records of the Han Dynasty (206 BC - 220 AD), one of the most influential periods in Chinese history.
The name Wei has been borne by numerous notable figures throughout Chinese history. One of the earliest recorded examples is Wei Qing (336 - 386 AD), a renowned calligrapher and painter during the Eastern Jin Dynasty. Another prominent figure was Wei Zheng (580 - 643 AD), a highly respected statesman and historian during the Tang Dynasty.
During the Song Dynasty (960 - 1279 AD), Wei Yuan (1794 - 1857) was a prominent scholar and historian who advocated for political and military reforms. In more modern times, Wei Chen (1877 - 1959) was a celebrated artist and one of the pioneers of the Chinese modern painting movement.
The name Wei has also been borne by several influential philosophers and thinkers. Wei Zhuang (369 - 286 BC) was a renowned Chinese philosopher who advocated for living a simple and natural life, in harmony with the Tao. Wei Yuan (1794 - 1857) was a prominent scholar and reformist during the Qing Dynasty, known for his influential writings on modernizing China.
While the name Wei has a long and rich history in Chinese cultures, it has also been adopted and used in other parts of the world, particularly in East Asian communities. However, the name's origins and deepest roots can be traced back to the ancient Chinese languages and civilizations.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Wei
People
Wei + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Wei as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with W
Other first names starting with W with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Wei: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Wei?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 350 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Wei 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 979,298 US residents.
Is Wei a common name?
We classify Wei as "Very Rare". It ranks above 80.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 362 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Wei most popular?
The single biggest year for Wei was 2001, when 20 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Wei is about 33 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Wei in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 17,176 people with the name Wei, or 5.69 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,757 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 Wei 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 Wei?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Wei on both sides of the split. Of the 17,173 people counted with this name, 9,987 were male (58.2%) and 7,186 were female (41.8%). 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 Wei?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Wei is Asian/Pacific Islander at 98.1%. The next largest groups are White (1.2%) and Two or More Races (0.3%). 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 Wei most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Wei in the 2020 Census, accounting for 98.1% (16,847 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 Wei in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Wei a male name?
Yes, 78.2% of people registered as Wei 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 Wei still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Wei 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 Wei 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 have Wei as a first name?
If you just want to know how many Americans are named Wei, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.