Given name
Unai
“a shepherd”
Unai is used as a given name. One Basque interpretation is “a shepherd.”
Meaning & origin
What it means
One Basque interpretation is “a shepherd.”
Where it comes from
An origin associated with this spelling is Basque.
The story
Published U.S. birth records include this spelling as early as 2017. This is the earliest published observation available here, rather than a date for the name’s origin.
From dated birth records
Unai through the years
- Babies since 1880
- 43
- 43 boys · 0 girls
- Most popular year
- 2021
- 14 babies
- 2025
- 6
- #11,889 for boys
- 2021–25 vs 2016–20
- +100%
- Rising fast
By the numbers
In 2025, this name appeared in 6 U.S. birth records for boys, ranking No. 11,889 among boys’ names. The recent annual counts are too incomplete to establish a ten-year comparison.
From Social Security birth records and U.S. Census name counts for this exact spelling. Other spellings are counted separately.
Unai’s family of names
Unai has a related form in Unae. Unai has a related form in Unay. Unai has a related form in Unaye.
The ring: nicknames and forms.
Nicknames & forms 3
Diminutives, pet forms, short forms and variants used alongside the name.
People named Unai
- Unai EmerySpanish association football managerborn 1971
- Unai SimónSpanish footballer (born 1997)
- Unai NuñezSpanish association football playerborn 1997
- Unai LópezSpanish footballerborn 1995
- Unai VencedorSpanish association football playerborn 2000
- Unai EtxebarriaVenezuelan cyclistborn 1972
- Unai BustinzaSpanish footballerborn 1992
- Unai ExpósitoSpanish footballerborn 1980
- Unai GarcíaSpanish footballerborn 1992
Listed by how widely each person is written about, which says nothing about the name itself.
Appears in
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