Given name & surname
Lai
“a dark-skinned man”
Lai is a variant of Lae. One interpretation is “a dark-skinned man.”
Meaning & origin
What it means
Lai is a variant of Lae. One interpretation is “a dark-skinned man.”
Explained through its name family
The story
Published U.S. birth records include this spelling as early as 1953. This is the earliest published observation available here, rather than a date for the name’s origin.
From dated birth records
Lai through the years
- Babies since 1880
- 256
- 25 boys · 231 girls
- Most popular year
- 1981
- 21 babies
- 2025
- 0
- Outside the ranked list
- 2021–25 vs 2016–20
- —
- Too few births to compare
By the numbers
The most recent published U.S. birth count for girls is 6 in 2015. Later missing counts do not mean the name went unused. Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 4,996 as a first name in 2020; 21,611 as a surname in 2020.
From Social Security birth records and U.S. Census name counts for this exact spelling. Other spellings are counted separately.
Lai’s family of names
Lai has a related form in Lae. In English usage, Lai as a surname has a related form in Li. In Indonesian usage, Lai as a surname has a related form in Lay.
Inner ring: spellings · middle: nicknames and forms · outer: across languages.
Around the world
Lai has relatives in 3 languages. Lines run from its Chinese roots to each of them.
5 related names in 3 languages. Point at a dot, or tab to the map and use the arrow keys.
Nicknames & forms 3
Diminutives, pet forms, short forms and variants used alongside the name.
Spellings & scripts 3
The same name written differently, including transliterations into other scripts.
Across languages 3
Equivalents and cognates in other languages, plus older forms it grew from.
People named Lai
Listed by how widely each person is written about, which says nothing about the name itself.
Similar names
If you love Lai, these share its style, era, origin or sound, from outside its own family.
Bai
Bai is a surname from Chinese.
33% boys · 67% girls
Ling
“as sweet as the tinkling of a bell”
>99% girls
Mi
Mi is a feminine given name from Chinese. It is used in Vietnamese.
>99% girls
Mui
Mui is a surname from Cantonese.
>99% girls
Tang
Tang is a surname from Mandarin. It is used in English, Danish, Tagalog, and Indonesian.
>99% girls
Linh
Linh is a unisex given name from Chinese. It is used in Vietnamese.
>99% girls
Oanh
“oriole”
>99% girls
Pui
Pui is a surname from Cantonese, ultimately from Hokkien. It is used in Romanian and Indonesian.
>99% girls