Skip to content
Name Lineage

    The surname Wai

    A surname, carried by 1,229 people in the United States.

    1 syllable Soundex W000

    Wai: #21,320 of 162,253 surnames in the 2010 US Census #1Smith#160,975Doriott#10Martinez#100Jimenez#1,000Archer Wai #21,320, 1,229 people Wai: #21,320 of 162,253 surnames in the 2010 US Census #1Smith#160,975Doriott#100Jimenez Wai #21,320, 1,229 people
    Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). Wai is more common than 86.9% of them.

    How common it is

    2010 US Census

    There were 1,229 people named Wai in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 251,217 Americans. That is up 27% since 2000, when the Census counted 969.

    #21,320
    rank among US surnames
    1,229
    people in 2010
    0.4
    per 100,000 Americans
    +26.8%
    change since 2000 (was #24,243)

    Who is named Wai

    Race and Hispanic origin as people reported it in the 2010 Census

    87% of people named Wai identified as Asian and Pacific Islander, 6.7% as two or more races and 3.3% as white (not Hispanic).

    • Asian and Pacific Islander 87%
    • Two or more races 6.7%
    • White (not Hispanic) 3.3%
    • Black (not Hispanic) 2.5%
    The Census suppresses very small shares to protect privacy; Hispanic, Native American are not shown.

    Compare: most common surnames among Asian and Pacific Islander Americans.

    Spellings and sound-alikes

    Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

    Surnames that sound like Wai

    Wai has the Soundex code W000, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code W000.

    Questions

    How common is the surname Wai?
    1,229 people in the United States had the surname Wai in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 251,217 Americans. It ranked 21,320th of 162,253 surnames.
    What ethnicity is the surname Wai?
    In the 2010 Census, 87% of people named Wai identified as Asian and Pacific Islander, and 6.7% as two or more races.
    Is the surname Wai getting more or less common?
    More common. 969 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 1,229 in 2010, up 27%.