Given name & surname · also Chinese
Pei
Pei is a surname from Mandarin, ultimately from Wade–Giles.
Meaning & origin
Where it comes from
Pei comes from Mandarin, and ultimately from Wade–Giles.
Adapted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0)
The story
Published U.S. birth records include this spelling as early as 1974. This is the earliest published observation available here, rather than a date for the name’s origin.
From dated birth records
Pei through the years
- Babies since 1880
- 18
- 0 boys · 18 girls
- Most popular year
- 1974
- 6 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 1983. Later missing counts do not mean the name went unused. Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 2,117 as a first name in 2020; 1,801 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.
Pei’s family of names
In English usage, Pei as a surname shares an earlier linguistic root with BUI. In Greek usage, Pei as a surname is a transliteration of Πέι.
Inner ring: spellings · outer: across languages.
Spellings & scripts 3
The same name written differently, including transliterations into other scripts.
Across languages 2
Equivalents and cognates in other languages, plus older forms it grew from.
People named Pei
Listed by how widely each person is written about, which says nothing about the name itself.
Similar names
If you love Pei, these share its style, era, origin or sound, from outside its own family.
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Lai
“a dark-skinned man”
10% boys · 90% girls
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“one who is desired”
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Yin
“a silvery woman”
>99% girls