Yi, pronounced 'ee', is of Chinese origin and means 'simple' or 'easy'. It is often used as a given name and also appears as a surname. In East Asia, Yi is considered one of the 'Hundred Family Surnames', indicating its historical prominence. The character for Yi consists of two radical elements: '一' meaning 'one' or 'first', suggesting uniqueness, and '乙' which denotes an early Heavenly Stem used in traditional Chinese calendar systems.
The name Yi had a consistent popularity over time, with an average of about 7 births per year between 1980 and 2023. There were peaks in the late 2000s and again in the early 2020s, with 11 births recorded each year in those periods.