# Tsai (surname)

Source: https://namelineage.com/surname/tsai/  
Publisher: Name Lineage. Counts from the US Census Bureau; origin and etymology from Wiktionary; bearers from Wikidata. Data updated 2026-11-11.

A surname from Mandarin Chinese.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Origin | Chinese |
| Type | not recorded |
| People in the US (2010 Census) | 10,968 |
| US rank (2010) | 3,291 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 28,150 people |
| Change since 2000 | +18% (9,332 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | not recorded |
| Variant spellings | Cai |

## Etymology

From Mandarin 蔡 (Cài), Wade–Giles romanization: Tsʻai⁴.

## Who carries it

Share of people named Tsai in the 2010 US Census by the Census's own race and ethnicity groups. The Census suppresses a share when the count behind it is small.

| Group | Share |
|---|---|
| White (not Hispanic) | 1.8% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 0.7% |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | 95% |
| Two or more races | 2.9% |

## Where

Wikidata records people named Tsai in Canada.

## People named Tsai

- Kristen Tsai, badminton player

## Similar surnames

Tsui, Tsao, Teague, Tuck, Tice, Theis, Tse, Thach, Tighe, Tucci, Thies, Tesch.

## How to read these numbers

A Census count is people alive and counted in 2010, not births, and names occurring fewer than 100 times are not published at all. Ethnicity shares are the Census's own categories.