Ari
Ari is a unisex name: 476 girls and 808 boys were given it in 2025 (#614 among girls’ names and #393 among boys’, #520 among all names counting both); 28,254 Americans have been recorded with it since 1958 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 27,700 Americans named Ari and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (98% of everyone recorded); the median is 11 years old and half are between 5 and 20.
Ari is among the most evenly shared names of 2025: #16 of 43 unisex names by how close its split is to half and half.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Ari by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Ari mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Ari is “a male given name from Hebrew, of Jewish usage, variant of Arieh (also transcribed as Aryeh, Arye).” Its etymology gives the senses “lion” (אֲרִי) and “Leib” (לייב).
Also “a diminutive of the female given names Arianna, Ariana, Ariel, Ariella, and Arielle, also used as a formal given name.”
Of the first sense, derives directly from Hebrew: אֲרִי (arí, “lion”); compare Yiddish: לייב (leyb, “Leib”), English: Leo, Leon, French: Léo, Léon, Czech: Lev, Polish: Lew, Russian: Лев (Lev), and Ukrainian: Лев (Lev).
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Ari?
#393 among boys’ names, 2025
Ari rose from #402 in 2015 to #393 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born rose from 0.40 to 0.47 per 1,000.
1,752 babies in 2022, the peak
Ari peaked in 2022, when 1,752 babies were given it (1,030 boys, #328 among boys’ names). The 1,284 births of 2025 (girls and boys) are 73% of that peak.
Births by sex.
| Year | Girls | Girls’ rank | Boys | Boys’ rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 476 | #614 | 808 | #393 |
| 2024 | 570 | #535 | 807 | #399 |
| 2023 | 666 | #462 | 974 | #342 |
| 2022 | 722 | #434 | 1,030 | #328 |
| 2021 | 658 | #476 | 957 | #343 |
| 2020 | 635 | #482 | 787 | #392 |
| 2019 | 505 | #600 | 860 | #371 |
| 2018 | 397 | #719 | 870 | #374 |
| 2017 | 341 | #803 | 802 | #398 |
| 2016 | 278 | #967 | 751 | #418 |
Every recorded year (68)
| Year | Girls | Girls’ rank | Boys | Boys’ rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 268 | #1,005 | 771 | #402 |
| 2014 | 227 | #1,118 | 689 | #440 |
| 2013 | 228 | #1,082 | 704 | #420 |
| 2012 | 178 | #1,323 | 637 | #435 |
| 2011 | 135 | #1,600 | 510 | #508 |
| 2010 | 134 | #1,613 | 517 | #500 |
| 2009 | 130 | #1,705 | 516 | #525 |
| 2008 | 107 | #1,968 | 495 | #536 |
| 2007 | 103 | #1,988 | 463 | #557 |
| 2006 | 78 | #2,397 | 375 | #630 |
| 2005 | 64 | #2,635 | 288 | #710 |
| 2004 | 72 | #2,369 | 297 | #678 |
| 2003 | 75 | #2,260 | 298 | #666 |
| 2002 | 57 | #2,674 | 249 | #711 |
| 2001 | 50 | #2,880 | 248 | #710 |
| 2000 | 25 | #4,660 | 207 | #787 |
| 1999 | 18 | #5,682 | 194 | #789 |
| 1998 | 20 | #5,144 | 166 | #871 |
| 1997 | 24 | #4,381 | 181 | #808 |
| 1996 | 28 | #3,836 | 184 | #787 |
| 1995 | 18 | #5,234 | 166 | #831 |
| 1994 | 32 | #3,446 | 170 | #809 |
| 1993 | 21 | #4,678 | 153 | #854 |
| 1992 | 24 | #4,240 | 156 | #844 |
| 1991 | 23 | #4,336 | 156 | #824 |
| 1990 | 22 | #4,384 | 141 | #855 |
| 1989 | 24 | #4,023 | 121 | #920 |
| 1988 | 13 | #5,914 | 119 | #868 |
| 1987 | 28 | #3,257 | 115 | #869 |
| 1986 | 15 | #4,978 | 125 | #807 |
| 1985 | 14 | #5,094 | 126 | #793 |
| 1984 | 9 | #6,846 | 105 | #859 |
| 1983 | 5 | #10,373 | 153 | #693 |
| 1982 | 15 | #4,732 | 140 | #742 |
| 1981 | 11 | #5,908 | 116 | #814 |
| 1980 | 14 | #4,988 | 147 | #720 |
| 1979 | 11 | #5,773 | 156 | #682 |
| 1978 | 10 | #5,983 | 130 | #741 |
| 1977 | 12 | #5,232 | 123 | #768 |
| 1976 | 10 | #5,619 | 101 | #832 |
| 1975 | 12 | #4,876 | 105 | #811 |
| 1974 | 7 | #6,947 | 128 | #724 |
| 1973 | 7 | #6,706 | 116 | #745 |
| 1972 | 6 | #7,330 | 111 | #752 |
| 1971 | 7 | #6,652 | 166 | #637 |
| 1970 | 6 | #7,117 | 123 | #742 |
| 1969 | 5 | #7,539 | 93 | #799 |
| 1968 | under 5 | 55 | #996 | |
| 1967 | under 5 | 47 | #1,073 | |
| 1966 | under 5 | 40 | #1,178 | |
| 1965 | under 5 | 46 | #1,095 | |
| 1964 | under 5 | 35 | #1,327 | |
| 1963 | under 5 | 32 | #1,374 | |
| 1962 | 7 | #5,322 | 35 | #1,313 |
| 1961 | 5 | #6,622 | 52 | #1,077 |
| 1960 | under 5 | 32 | #1,400 | |
| 1959 | under 5 | 13 | #2,302 | |
| 1958 | under 5 | 9 | #2,828 |
Ranks: girls’ names and boys’ names ranked separately in each year’s SSA file; “under 5” is a year SSA did not list the name for that sex.
Is Ari a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Of the 28,254 Americans recorded as Ari, 27% are girls and 73% boys.
Years with fewer than 20 babies given the name are left blank.
Girls and boys named Ari: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Ari, and how old are they?
27,700 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 98% of the 28,254 Americans ever recorded as Ari. The median Ari alive today is 11 years old; half are between 5 and 20.
The 2020 Census counted 21,038 people named Ari (5,402 women and girls, 15,636 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 19,142 born in the U.S. The Census count is 10% above that prediction. Possible reasons: the Census counts people born abroad, whom SSA’s files leave out, and it records the name people give, which SSA may have recorded under another spelling or as part of a compound name.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 171 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 1,610 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 2,430 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 6,820 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 16,700 |
An estimate, not a count. SSA’s files count people born in the United States who received a Social Security number, so anyone born abroad is not in them; before 1937 most people got a number as adults, and their survival is counted from that age.
Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).
Where are babies named Ari born?
The states with the most babies named Ari are California, New York and Texas, with 36% of its births recorded by state in 2025.
| State | Births 2025 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 186 | #297 | 1.0× |
| New York | 130 | #159 | 1.9× |
| Texas | 114 | #577 | 0.7× |
| Florida | 91 | #295 | 1.0× |
| New Jersey | 52 | #232 | 1.3× |
| Pennsylvania | 45 | #344 | 1.0× |
| Georgia | 44 | #521 | 1.0× |
| Illinois | 37 | #375 | 1.0× |
| Ohio | 37 | #457 | 0.6× |
| Virginia | 34 | #452 | 0.7× |
Where Ari is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Ari is most over-represented in New York: since 1958 it was given 1.9 times as often there as its national share each year would predict.
States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among boys’ names in the state in 2025. The file leaves out any state and year with fewer than 5 babies of the name, so small states are undercounted; each ratio compares the state’s births of Ari with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names spelled alike
Of these 8 names spelled alike, given to 30,196 babies since 1880, Ari is the most given (94% of them). In 2025 it was given to 1,284 of their 1,468 babies (87%), again the most given.
Spelled alike: names in the SSA national file with the same pattern of letters and sounds and at most two letters apart, and Wiktionary’s listed forms; births since 1880 and in 2025, and each name’s peak year, from the SSA national file, published May 8, 2026. Some are separate names, not spellings of one.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Ari
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
More about Ari and names like it
- Compare Ari and AeroBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 2020sAri peaked in 2022.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Ari since 1910.
- The top names of 2022The year the most babies were named Ari.
- The names of Generation AlphaMost people named Ari alive today were born 2013-2025.
- Names starting with AMost given first.