Chi
Chi is given to both girls and boys: 17 girls and 9 boys were given it in 2025 (#6,595 among girls’ names and #8,375 among boys’, #8,683 among all names counting both); 1,326 Americans have been recorded with it since 1970 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 1,280 Americans named Chi and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (97% of everyone recorded); the median is 35 years old and half are between 14 and 44.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Chi by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Chi mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Chi is “a male given name.”
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Chi?
#6,595 among girls’ names, 2025
Chi rose from #10,295 in 2015 to #6,595 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born rose from 5.6 to 10.6 per million.
48 babies in 1982, the peak
Chi peaked in 1982, when 48 babies were given it (27 girls, #3,188 among girls’ names). The 26 births of 2025 (girls and boys) are 54% of that peak.
Births by sex.
| Year | Girls | Girls’ rank | Boys | Boys’ rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 17 | #6,595 | 9 | #8,375 |
| 2024 | 18 | #6,451 | 15 | #5,955 |
| 2023 | 32 | #4,381 | 15 | #5,982 |
| 2022 | 21 | #5,819 | 14 | #6,205 |
| 2021 | 26 | #4,985 | 10 | #7,710 |
| 2020 | 17 | #6,688 | 14 | #6,030 |
| 2019 | 18 | #6,475 | 11 | #7,256 |
| 2018 | 7 | #12,762 | 6 | #11,020 |
| 2017 | 12 | #8,910 | 10 | #7,666 |
| 2016 | 9 | #11,063 | under 5 |
Every recorded year (55)
| Year | Girls | Girls’ rank | Boys | Boys’ rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 10 | #10,295 | under 5 | |
| 2014 | 10 | #10,295 | under 5 | |
| 2013 | 6 | #15,018 | 6 | #10,981 |
| 2012 | 11 | #9,863 | under 5 | |
| 2011 | 8 | #12,409 | 5 | #12,611 |
| 2009 | 12 | #9,516 | 7 | #10,055 |
| 2008 | 5 | #18,111 | 7 | #10,042 |
| 2007 | under 5 | 6 | #11,151 | |
| 2006 | under 5 | 8 | #8,861 | |
| 2005 | 15 | #7,588 | 8 | #8,417 |
| 2004 | 8 | #11,829 | 9 | #7,631 |
| 2003 | 5 | #16,275 | 7 | #8,808 |
| 2002 | 5 | #15,946 | 9 | #7,138 |
| 2001 | 8 | #11,218 | 12 | #5,724 |
| 2000 | 7 | #12,049 | 7 | #8,326 |
| 1999 | 6 | #13,007 | 9 | #6,620 |
| 1998 | 12 | #7,634 | 8 | #6,946 |
| 1997 | 8 | #9,983 | 8 | #6,706 |
| 1996 | 10 | #8,273 | 8 | #6,591 |
| 1995 | under 5 | 12 | #4,834 | |
| 1994 | 15 | #6,036 | 18 | #3,612 |
| 1993 | 13 | #6,694 | 9 | #5,834 |
| 1992 | 18 | #5,312 | 12 | #4,602 |
| 1991 | 19 | #5,025 | 11 | #4,803 |
| 1990 | 24 | #4,139 | 12 | #4,443 |
| 1989 | 11 | #7,054 | 23 | #2,698 |
| 1988 | 17 | #4,877 | 15 | #3,374 |
| 1987 | 14 | #5,350 | 13 | #3,554 |
| 1986 | 17 | #4,574 | 8 | #4,920 |
| 1985 | 16 | #4,663 | 24 | #2,235 |
| 1984 | 26 | #3,243 | 13 | #3,294 |
| 1983 | 20 | #3,839 | 23 | #2,217 |
| 1982 | 27 | #3,188 | 21 | #2,349 |
| 1981 | 19 | #4,028 | 15 | #2,916 |
| 1980 | 25 | #3,339 | 12 | #3,448 |
| 1979 | 11 | #5,817 | 8 | #4,471 |
| 1978 | 19 | #3,798 | 9 | #3,906 |
| 1977 | 21 | #3,503 | 12 | #3,225 |
| 1976 | 20 | #3,426 | 17 | #2,523 |
| 1975 | 20 | #3,417 | 10 | #3,475 |
| 1974 | 28 | #2,628 | 13 | #2,821 |
| 1973 | 29 | #2,516 | 9 | #3,486 |
| 1972 | 6 | #7,432 | under 5 | |
| 1971 | under 5 | 10 | #3,180 | |
| 1970 | 5 | #8,196 | 6 | #4,315 |
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 Chi a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Of the 1,326 Americans recorded as Chi, 58% are girls and 42% boys.
Years with fewer than 20 babies given the name are left blank.
Girls and boys named Chi: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Chi, and how old are they?
1,280 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 97% of the 1,326 Americans ever recorded as Chi. The median Chi alive today is 35 years old; half are between 14 and 44.
The 2020 Census counted 11,341 people named Chi (5,984 women and girls, 5,357 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 1,094 born in the U.S. The Census count is 10.4 times 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.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 270 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 483 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 217 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 311 |
An estimate, not a count. SSA’s files count people born in the United States who received a Social Security number, so anyone born abroad is not in them; before 1937 most people got a number as adults, and their survival is counted from that age.
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).
Where are babies named Chi born?
The states with the most babies named Chi are California, New York and Florida, with 97% of its births recorded by state since 1910.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 134 | not ranked | 0.8× |
| New York | 23 | not ranked | 0.3× |
| Florida | 6 | not ranked | 0.1× |
| Minnesota | 5 | not ranked | 0.2× |
States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among girls’ names in the state in 2025. The file leaves out any state and year with fewer than 5 babies of the name, so small states are undercounted; each ratio compares the state’s births of Chi with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names spelled alike
Of these 3 names spelled alike, given to 1,744 babies since 1880, Chi is the most given (76% of them). In 2025 it was given to 26 of their 26 babies (100%), again the most given.
Spelled alike: names in the SSA national file with the same pattern of letters and sounds and at most two letters apart, and Wiktionary’s listed forms; births since 1880 and in 2025, and each name’s peak year, from the SSA national file, published May 8, 2026. Some are separate names, not spellings of one.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Chi
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
More about Chi and names like it
- Compare Chi and ChiaBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1980sChi peaked in 1982.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Chi since 1910.
- The top names of 1982The year the most babies were named Chi.
- The names of the MillennialsMost people named Chi alive today were born 1981-1996.
- Names starting with CMost given first.