How rare is the name Cari?

12,068 people in the United States have the first name Cari, about 1 in 25,027. It ranks #2,188 of 53,615 first names in the 2020 Census.

first name

CARI

#2,188

of 53,615 first names recorded in the 2020 Census

People
12,068
About
1 in 25,027
This common or more
78.9%
Who bears it

Of the 12,068 people named Cari, 87% reported their origin as White, 4.7% as Hispanic or Latino and 3.3% as two or more races. 98.8% are female. These count how people described themselves on the 2020 Census, not where the name comes from.

Cari peaked in 1976, when 541 babies got the name.

Births per year, SSA records 1880–2025
19412025
Peak year
1976
Births that year
541
In 2025*
16 ▼97%
Recorded as
almost entirely female

At least 12,870 babies have been given the name since 1941. Years SSA withheld, because fewer than 5 were born, are skipped rather than drawn as zero. * 2025 is the newest year published and it undercounts: a card application is filed some time after a birth.

Cari by decade

Among all names given to American babies, its best decade was the 1970s, when it ranked #823. The largest share of babies named Cari, 49.6%, were born between 1965 and 1980, Generation X's birth years.

1940s#9,18121
1950s#2,280552
1960s#1,0362,771
1970s#8234,451
1980s#1,1183,084
1990s#2,3041,260
2000s#8,393259
2010s#8,567271
2020s#7,350201
Silent Generation 1928–450%
Baby boom 1946–6413.2%
Generation X 1965–8049.6%
Millennials 1981–9630%
Generation Z 1997–124.1%
2013 and later3.1%

Rank counts both sexes together, among every name SSA recorded that decade; the number under it is births. The 2020s run only to 2025. Generation years follow Pew Research Center, which has not named a generation after 2012.

Where Cari is most common

Compared with all babies born in each state since 1910, Cari has been most common in Utah (2.4×), Washington (2.1×), and Minnesota (2.1×), and least common in North Carolina (0.28×).

9,877 births recorded by state, 1910–2025. 2× means twice as common as nationally. States with fewer than 30 such births are left blank, and SSA withholds any year with fewer than 5 in a state, so small states read low.

Either side of Cari

#2,186 Rosanne · 12,099#2,187 Isis · 12,086#2,189 Bettie · 12,043#2,190 Annabella · 12,034

Spelled almost the same

8 first names in the 2020 Census spelled within a letter or two of Cari, most common first.

#927 Cara · 48,443#1,469 Cary · 22,895#4,586 Carie · 4,013#5,208 Carri · 3,339#14,596 Caro · 805#16,155 Car · 703#27,122 Carr · 339#30,742 Care · 282

Also a last name

As a last name, Cari ranks #91,198 of 156,621, with 217 people. See Cari as a last name

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