Pei

Spellings & scripts●

Locally spelled Pay in LA Laos.

Spellings marked ● are how people bearing the name write it in our records; ○ marks a model's transliteration. Click a spelling to open its page.

Meaning & origin●

Attested across 6 languages in the etymology graph.

Languages●

Language is read off each record's context, not declared by the bearer; a share is of all records for this spelling.

Other names spelled this way◐

Pei is also recorded as 2 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• a separate given name7.7K records spelled Pei3 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, China, Malaysia, Singapore

  Also written Peĭ, Peï

• Korean given name1.1K records spelled Pei7 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Malaysia, United States, South Korea, China

  Also written Pay, Phay, Pely, Pb, Pv

73 further groups record this spelling and are not listed here.

Grouping is the name graph's, not a register's: two spellings join a group when the evidence links them, so a group is a claim about the records rather than about the people.

Other recorded senses●

Pei is also recorded in 5 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.

• In English, Initialism of Prince Edward Island: a province of Canada.

  as a word·kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

• In Chinese, nonstandard spelling of pēi

  as a word·kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

• In English, M., US architect; Mario, US

  as a name·Pronouncing Dictionary of Proper Names

• In English, Peiping [Beijing]

  as a name·Pronouncing Dictionary of Proper Names

• In English, city, China

  as a name·Pronouncing Dictionary of Proper Names

Ordered by how much of this spelling's record each language holds, so a sense from a language the name is barely used in sits last rather than first.

Over time●

SE SCB — Namnstatistik (to 2023) — 17 years between 2004–2020. One register's own figures, never a sum across registers: two registers counting the same people would double them.

Notable people with this name●

• Pei Te Hurinui Jonesb. 1898NZNgati Maniapoto leader, interpreter, land officer, writer, translator, genealogist (1898–1976)
• Yan Pei-mingb. 1958CNChinese painter (born 1958)
• Pei Xub. 1966DEGerman writer
• Pei Zhaob. 1976DEGerman Go player
• Peipei Shangb. 1984CNnot in their usual namePh.D. Université Pierre-et-Marie-Curie - Paris VI 2012
• Pei Xingrub. 1998CNChinese freestyle wrestler
• Mao-Pei TsuiUSPh.D. Brandeis University 2000
• Li PeiMing dynasty person CBDB = 358463
• Li PeiMing dynasty person CBDB = 295576
• Li PeiMing dynasty person CBDB = 216820

The ten people covered by the most Wikipedia language editions — a proxy for cross-cultural notability, which favours historical and Western figures over equally prominent contemporary ones — shown by birth year. Source: Wikidata (CC0).

Evidence●

Register rows as of the 2026-09-12 data build · 123 rows in the corpus for this spelling.

Frequently asked questions

How common is the name Pei?

We estimate roughly 1.9 thousand people bear Pei (counting its spellings and scripts) across 8 countries in our records.

In which country does Pei have the most bearers?

Pei is most frequently recorded in Malaysia, where it is most often spelled pei.

How common is Pei compared with other names?

In Malaysia, Pei is the 51st most common given name of 325,158 given names recorded there.

Is Pei a male or female name?

Pei is a female name in our records. Opposite-gender entries fall within the cross-gender noise we measure in the source data, so we don't report them as usage.

What does the name Pei mean?

Recorded meaning: (i) from Pei, the name of a Chinese village; (ii) from Beiqiu, a place in China