HUMAN NAME · NOT ON THE REGISTRY

Zai

A human name, held in the Social Security file. It is not in the Administration’s index of agent names, and it has no classification.

Table 1. Zai, as recorded
Sex	Male
2025 rank	5,039
2025 number	20
Peak year	2024
Peak rank	3,980
Years present	19 of 146
Dog licences, New York	6
Pet licences, Seattle	–

Statement of record

Zai was given to 20 boys in 2025, ranking 5,039th for the year. It peaked in 2024, when it ranked 3,980th and went to 28 babies. It has appeared in 19 of the 146 years on record. It has fallen 619 places since 2020.

Figure 1. Popularity of a Name: Zai

Human births per million, by sex, U.S. Social Security Administration, 1880 to 2025.Agents: 0 registered. The agent series begins when the registry does.

Villain probability

46%

Basis: phonetics, by spelling. One voiced obstruent, one sibilant, ends in a vowel. The pronouncing dictionary has no entry, so the letters were sounded out by a stated rule.

Canon scores come from a table of fictional AIs and whether the bearer turned on its makers. Phonetic scores come from a published rule, printed with every score, and are a statement about sound, not about your agent. How the sound is scored.

As recorded on the Social Security card application. Names given to fewer than five babies of a sex in a year are not published, so the file is a floor.