How rare is the name Kari?

55,005 people in the United States have the first name Kari, about 1 in 5,491. It ranks #842 of 53,615 first names in the 2020 Census.

first name

KARI

#842

of 53,615 first names recorded in the 2020 Census

People
55,005
About
1 in 5,491
This common or more
67.5%
Who bears it

Of the 55,005 people named Kari, 89.7% reported their origin as White, 2.9% as two or more races and 2.7% as Hispanic or Latino. 98.8% are female. These count how people described themselves on the 2020 Census, not where the name comes from.

Kari peaked in 1975, when 2,243 babies got the name.

Births per year, SSA records 1880–2025
19342025
Peak year
1975
Births that year
2,243
In 2025*
113 ▼95%
Recorded as
almost entirely female

At least 60,627 babies have been given the name since 1934. 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.

Kari by decade

Among all names given to American babies, its best decade was the 1970s, when it ranked #302. The largest share of babies named Kari, 44.4%, were born between 1965 and 1980, Generation X's birth years.

1930s#8,28425
1940s#3,883157
1950s#1,0832,271
1960s#49311,056
1970s#30218,917
1980s#32417,681
1990s#7846,409
2000s#2,1501,871
2010s#2,9911,297
2020s#2,628943
Silent Generation 1928–450.1%
Baby boom 1946–6411.8%
Generation X 1965–8044.4%
Millennials 1981–9635%
Generation Z 1997–125.4%
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 Kari is most common

Compared with all babies born in each state since 1910, Kari has been most common in North Dakota (5.4×), Minnesota (4.8×), and Montana (3.8×), and least common in Mississippi (0.23×).

56,755 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 Kari

#840 Kirk · 55,261#841 Nichole · 55,220#843 Clinton · 54,834#844 Hilda · 54,736

Spelled almost the same

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

#571 Kara · 93,447#3,894 Karie · 5,033#4,294 Kairi · 4,422#4,547 Karri · 4,052#5,441 Kary · 3,161#6,942 Kaori · 2,252#17,394 Kare · 635#18,452 Kar · 584

Also a last name

As a last name, Kari ranks #28,202 of 156,621, with 901 people. See Kari as a last name

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