Tai is a surname in various cultures.

Arabic

Tai or al-Ta'i, at-Ta'i (), also spelled al-Ta'i or at-Ta'iy, is an

Arabic name Arabic language names have historically been based on a long naming system. Many people from the Arabic-speaking and also Muslim countries have not had given/ middle/family names but rather a chain of names. This system remains in use throughout ...

. In ancient times it originated as a

nisba The Arabic word nisba (; also transcribed as ''nisbah'' or ''nisbat'') may refer to: * Nisba, a suffix used to form adjectives in Arabic grammar, or the adjective resulting from this formation **comparatively, in Afro-Asiatic: see Afroasiatic_lang ...

indicating affiliation with the

Tayy , location = 2nd century CE–10th century: Jabal Tayy and Syrian Desert 10th century–16th century: Jabal Tayy, Syrian Desert, Jibal al-Sharat, al-Balqa, Palmyrene Steppe, Upper Mesopotamia, Northern Hejaz, Najd , parent_tribe = Madh ...

tribe. *

Hatim al-Tai Hatim al-Tai ( ar, حاتم الطائي, ''Hatim of the Tayy tribe''; died 578), full name Ḥātim bin ʿAbd Allāh bin Saʿd aṭ-Ṭāʾiyy ( ar, حاتم بن عبد الله بن سعد الطائي) was the ruling prince and poet of the T ...

(Hatem ibn Abdellah ibn Sa'ad at-Ta'iy, died 578), Arab poet *

Dawud Tai Abu Sulaiman Dawud ibn Nusair al-Tā'ī, () usually referred to as Dawud Tā'ī, (died between 776 and 783 CE) was an Islamic scholar and Sufi mystic. He resided in Kufa and was a prominent student of Abu Hanifa. His disciples included many ...

(Abu Solaiman Dawud ibn Nosair al-Ta’i, died 770s or 780s), Sufi mystic * Sultan Hashim Ahmad al-Tai (1945–2020), Iraqi Minister of Defense under Saddam Hussein *

Ashraf Tai Muhammad Ashraf Tai is a martial arts grandmaster, a Dan (rank), 10th degree Dan (Black Belt), the 2-time Afro-Asian Martial Arts Champion (1978-1979), the 9-time Pakistan Karate Champion, and one of the most famous Grandmaster (martial arts), ...

, Burmese-born Pakistani martial artist who states that he is a descendant of Hatim al-Tai

Chinese

Tái is the Pinyin romanisation of the

Chinese surname Chinese surnames are used by Han Chinese and Sinicized ethnic groups in China, Taiwan, Korea, Vietnam, and among overseas Chinese communities around the world such as Singapore and Malaysia. Written Chinese names begin with surnames, unlike the ...

written using the

character Character or Characters may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''Character'' (novel), a 1936 Dutch novel by Ferdinand Bordewijk * ''Characters'' (Theophrastus), a classical Greek set of character sketches attributed to The ...

. According to traditional stories recorded in the ''

Shuowen Jiezi ''Shuowen Jiezi'' () is an ancient Chinese dictionary from the Han dynasty. Although not the first comprehensive Chinese character dictionary (the '' Erya'' predates it), it was the first to analyze the structure of the characters and to give ...

'', it originated as a

toponymic surname A toponymic surname or topographic surname is a surname derived from a place name.

referring to the city by the same name. *

Tai Chih-yuan Andy Tai Chih-yuan (, born 7 May 1965) is a Taiwanese comedian, actor, show host and YouTuber. He is a graduate of New York Institute of Technology The New York Institute of Technology (NYIT or New York Tech) is a private research university f ...

(; born 1965), Taiwanese comedian *

Samuel Tai Samuel Tai (, born 6 November 1966) is a Hong Kong-born Taiwanese singer-songwriter. Tai debuted in 1988 and then released his first solo album ''Good Boys'' (理想男孩) in 1990. In 1993, he wrote the song "999 Roses" (九佰九拾九朶玫� ...

(; born 1966), Hong Kong-born Taiwan singer Tái is also the Pinyin romanisation of the Chinese surname written using the character . *

Tai Xiaohu Tai Xiaohu (; born 1 March 1998 in Gaomi) is a male Chinese diver specializing in 10 metre synchronized event. He four times won the champions at FINA Diving World Series The FINA Diving World Series is a diving competition series held annually ...

(; born 1998), Chinese diver Tai may also be the Wade-Giles transcription of Dai (); see that page for people with that Chinese surname. ;People * Tai Beng Hai (born 1965), Malaysian field hockey player *

Tai Chen-yao Tai Chen-yao (; 2 April 1948 – 19 November 2017) was a Taiwanese politician. He served three terms in the Legislative Yuan, from 1990 to 1996 and again from 1999 to 2002, and was later named vice chairman of the Council of Agriculture (Taiwan) ...

(1948-2017), Taiwanese politician *

Tai Cheuk-yin Leslie Spencer Tai Cheuk-yin is a Hong Kong politician. He was the last chairman of the pro-Republic of China (Taiwan) Hong Kong political organisation 123 Democratic Alliance 123 Democratic Alliance ( Chinese: 一二三民主聯盟) was a p ...

, Hong Kong politician *

(born 1965), Taiwanese comedian * Tai Hung-hsu (born 1987), Taiwanese football skier * Tai An Khang (born 1994), Malaysian badminton player *

Tai Tak-fung Stephen Tai Tak-fung GBM, GBS, JP (; born 1948) is the founder and chairman of the Four Seas Group and the member of the Standing Committee of both the National and the Guangdong Provincial Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultati ...

(born 1948), Chinese political figure *

Tai Tzu-ying Tai Tzu-ying (; born 20 June 1994) is a Taiwanese badminton player. At the age of 22, she became BWF World Ranking#Women's singles, world No. 1 in the women's singles in December 2016, and she is the women's singles player who has held that ...

(born 1994), Taiwanese badminton player *

Tai William Tai William (; ; born 30 March 1997) is a Taiwanese speed skating, speed skater. He competed in the 2018 Winter Olympics. References External links

* 1997 births Living people Speed skaters at the 2018 Winter Olympics Taiwanese male ...

(born 1997), Taiwanese speed skater *

(born 1998), Chinese diver

Japanese

As a

Japanese surname Officially, among Japanese names there are 291,129 different Japanese surnames, as determined by their kanji, although many of these are Japanese orthography, pronounced and romanization of Japanese, romanized similarly. Conversely, some surnames w ...

, Tai could be written with the single characters , , , or , as well as numerous two-character combinations from one character read ''ta'' (e.g. , ) and another read ''i'' (e.g. ''

on-yomi are the logographic Chinese characters taken from the Chinese script and used in the writing of Japanese. They were made a major part of the Japanese writing system during the time of Old Japanese and are still used, along with the subsequent ...

'' of or ''

kun-yomi are the logographic Chinese characters taken from the Chinese script and used in the writing of Japanese. They were made a major part of the Japanese writing system during the time of Old Japanese and are still used, along with the subsequent ...

'' of or ). People with these surnames include: *

Ichiro Tai Ichiro Tai from the Toshiba Corporation, Minato-ku, Tokyo, Japan was named Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) is a 501(c)(3) professional association fo ...

, Japanese electrical engineer *

Miyuki Tai Miyuki Tai ( ja, 田井美幸, Tai Miyuki; born 24 March 1980) is a retired Japanese people, Japanese badminton player from NTT East Club. Achievements IBF Grand Prix The World Badminton Grand Prix sanctioned by International Badminton Federat ...

(born 1980), Japanese badminton player *, Japanese voice actor

Korean

Tai is an alternative spelling of the Korean surname Tae (). In a study by the

National Institute of the Korean Language The National Institute of Korean Language is a language regulator of the Korean language. It was created on January 23, 1991, by Presidential Decree No. 13163 (November 14, 1990). It is based in Seoul, South Korea. The institute was originally ...

based on 2007 application data for South Korean passports, it was found that 28.5% of people with that surname spelled it in Latin letters as Tai in their passports, vs. 57.1% as Tae.

Other

* António Taí (born 1948), Portuguese footballer *

Eric Tai Eric Tai (born August 23, 1984) is a Tongan-born Filipino actor, model, TV host, comedian, rugby union player who played for the Alabang Eagles and represented the Philippines national rugby union team in 15s and 7s and professional ''Arena of Va ...

(born 1964), New Zealand actor of Tongan descent *

Katherine Tai Katherine Chi Tai (born March 18, 1974) is an American attorney serving as the 19th United States Trade Representative since March 18, 2021. The daughter of Taiwanese people, Taiwanese immigrants, she is the first Asian Americans, Asian-American ...

, American diplomat *

Kobe Tai Kobe Tai is an American pornographic actress. Pornographic film career Tai was a contract performer with Vivid Entertainment. In 2011, ''Complex'' ranked her first on its list of "The Top 50 Hottest Asian Porn Stars of All Time". Mainstream ap ...

(born 1972), stage name of an American pornographic actress of Asian descent, changed from Coby Ty to sound "more ethnic" for marketing purposes *

Daniel Tai Daniel Tai (born 1 June 1977) is a New Zealand professional boxer. He is a two time New Zealand National Boxing Federation (NZNBF) heavyweight title holder, and former ranked 12th in the World Boxing Organization (WBO) Asia Pacific rankings. Ta ...

(born 1977), New Zealand boxer *

Jordan Tai Jordan Tai (born 21 March 1982) is a New Zealand welterweight kickboxer and a middleweight boxer. He is a two time K-1 MAX New Zealand champion who competed in World Elite of K-1 MAX and a New Zealand Boxing Champion. Titles * 2016 New Z ...

(born 1982), New Zealand boxer and kickboxer *

Soaeb Tai Soaeb Tai (born 25 December 1989) is an Indian cricketer who plays for Baroda cricket team, Baroda. He made his Twenty20 debut on 3 January 2016 in the 2015–16 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. He made his first-class cricket, first-class debut for Baro ...

(born 1989), Indian cricketer

References