Adlai
Adlai is given to both girls and boys: 7 girls and 6 boys were given it in 2025 (#11,952 among girls’ names and #10,715 among boys’, #13,554 among all names counting both); 696 Americans have been recorded with it since 1891 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Adlai by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Adlai mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Adlai is “a male given name from Hebrew of biblical origin.”
From Hebrew עדלי (Adlai).
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Adlai?
#10,715 among boys’ names, 2025
Adlai fell from #5,059 in 2015 to #10,715 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born fell from 9.4 to 3.5 per million.
39 babies in 1952, the peak
Adlai peaked in 1952, when 39 boys were given it, #1,181 among boys’ names. The 13 births of 2025 (girls and boys) are 33% of that peak.
Births by sex.
| Year | Girls | Girls’ rank | Boys | Boys’ rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 7 | #11,952 | 6 | #10,715 |
| 2024 | under 5 | 7 | #9,911 | |
| 2023 | under 5 | 8 | #8,935 | |
| 2022 | under 5 | 22 | #4,568 | |
| 2021 | 8 | #11,170 | 9 | #8,173 |
| 2020 | 6 | #13,478 | 9 | #8,084 |
| 2019 | under 5 | 14 | #6,103 | |
| 2018 | 5 | #15,731 | 18 | #5,104 |
| 2017 | 6 | #14,166 | 15 | #5,791 |
| 2016 | 6 | #14,369 | 9 | #8,153 |
Every recorded year (57)
| Year | Girls | Girls’ rank | Boys | Boys’ rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | under 5 | 18 | #5,059 | |
| 2014 | 9 | #10,980 | 10 | #7,562 |
| 2013 | under 5 | 20 | #4,620 | |
| 2012 | 6 | #15,000 | 21 | #4,531 |
| 2011 | 7 | #13,366 | 15 | #5,671 |
| 2010 | under 5 | 17 | #5,252 | |
| 2009 | 6 | #15,272 | 12 | #6,807 |
| 2008 | 5 | #17,553 | 12 | #6,766 |
| 2007 | under 5 | 19 | #4,811 | |
| 2006 | under 5 | 13 | #6,094 | |
| 2005 | under 5 | 11 | #6,639 | |
| 2004 | 7 | #12,776 | 7 | #8,934 |
| 2003 | under 5 | 7 | #8,652 | |
| 2002 | 5 | #15,471 | 14 | #5,129 |
| 2001 | under 5 | 7 | #8,349 | |
| 2000 | under 5 | 7 | #8,210 | |
| 1999 | under 5 | 8 | #7,141 | |
| 1998 | under 5 | 11 | #5,468 | |
| 1996 | 5 | #13,530 | 12 | #4,877 |
| 1994 | under 5 | 7 | #6,973 | |
| 1991 | under 5 | 6 | #7,277 | |
| 1990 | under 5 | 7 | #6,413 | |
| 1989 | under 5 | 9 | #5,163 | |
| 1986 | under 5 | 7 | #5,334 | |
| 1985 | under 5 | 7 | #5,152 | |
| 1981 | under 5 | 6 | #5,476 | |
| 1980 | under 5 | 6 | #5,531 | |
| 1979 | under 5 | 6 | #5,363 | |
| 1977 | under 5 | 6 | #5,131 | |
| 1968 | under 5 | 6 | #3,675 | |
| 1967 | under 5 | 5 | #3,970 | |
| 1960 | under 5 | 5 | #4,041 | |
| 1957 | under 5 | 6 | #3,551 | |
| 1956 | under 5 | 22 | #1,675 | |
| 1955 | under 5 | 12 | #2,301 | |
| 1954 | under 5 | 7 | #3,175 | |
| 1953 | under 5 | 18 | #1,835 | |
| 1952 | under 5 | 39 | #1,181 | |
| 1936 | under 5 | 5 | #3,550 | |
| 1927 | under 5 | 6 | #3,779 | |
| 1925 | under 5 | 5 | #4,198 | |
| 1924 | under 5 | 5 | #4,351 | |
| 1920 | under 5 | 5 | #4,290 | |
| 1894 | under 5 | 5 | #1,074 | |
| 1893 | under 5 | 9 | #706 | |
| 1892 | under 5 | 17 | #480 | |
| 1891 | under 5 | 6 | #840 |
Ranks: girls’ names and boys’ names ranked separately in each year’s SSA file; “under 5” is a year SSA did not list the name for that sex.
Is Adlai a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Of the 696 Americans recorded as Adlai, 13% are girls and 87% boys.
Years with fewer than 20 babies given the name are left blank.
Girls and boys named Adlai: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Adlai, and how old are they?
An estimated 585 Americans named Adlai and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (84% of everyone recorded); the median is 17 years old and half are between 10 and 30. An estimate from SSA’s births and life tables, not a count.
The 2020 Census counted 674 people named Adlai (106 women and girls, 568 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 522 born in the U.S. The Census count is 29% above that prediction. Possible reasons: the Census counts people born abroad, whom SSA’s files leave out, and it records the name people give, which SSA may have recorded under another spelling or as part of a compound name.
Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).
More about Adlai and names like it
- The most given names of the 1950sAdlai peaked in 1952.
- Illinois’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Adlai since 1910.
- Hebrew namesWiktionary’s origin for Adlai: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 1952The year the most babies were named Adlai.
- The names of Generation ZMost people named Adlai alive today were born 1997-2012.
- Names starting with AMost given first.