Cari
Cari is given to both girls and boys: 10 girls and 6 boys were given it in 2025 (#9,577 among girls’ names and #10,897 among boys’, #11,923 among all names counting both); 12,870 Americans have been recorded with it since 1941 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 12,000 Americans named Cari and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (93% of everyone recorded); the median is 49 years old and half are between 41 and 56.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Cari by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
How popular is Cari?
#9,577 among girls’ names, 2025
Cari fell from #5,154 in 2015 to #9,577 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born fell from 14.6 to 6.2 per million.
541 babies in 1976, the peak
Cari peaked in 1976, when 541 girls were given it, #380 among girls’ names. The 16 births of 2025 (girls and boys) are 3% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 10 | #9,577 | 0.01 |
| 2024 | 21 | #5,832 | 0.01 |
| 2023 | 27 | #4,892 | 0.02 |
| 2022 | 38 | #3,902 | 0.02 |
| 2021 | 36 | #4,034 | 0.02 |
| 2020 | 30 | #4,466 | 0.02 |
| 2019 | 22 | #5,644 | 0.01 |
| 2018 | 27 | #4,906 | 0.02 |
| 2017 | 27 | #4,948 | 0.02 |
| 2016 | 21 | #6,023 | 0.01 |
Every recorded year (79)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 26 | #5,154 | 0.01 |
| 2014 | 21 | #6,026 | 0.01 |
| 2013 | 30 | #4,676 | 0.02 |
| 2012 | 27 | #5,133 | 0.02 |
| 2011 | 30 | #4,706 | 0.02 |
| 2010 | 21 | #6,220 | 0.01 |
| 2009 | 12 | #9,501 | 0.01 |
| 2008 | 25 | #5,599 | 0.01 |
| 2007 | 21 | #6,363 | 0.01 |
| 2006 | 17 | #7,211 | 0.01 |
| 2005 | 22 | #5,626 | 0.01 |
| 2004 | 24 | #5,238 | 0.01 |
| 2003 | 34 | #3,955 | 0.02 |
| 2002 | 21 | #5,483 | 0.01 |
| 2001 | 37 | #3,557 | 0.02 |
| 2000 | 46 | #3,030 | 0.03 |
| 1999 | 56 | #2,533 | 0.03 |
| 1998 | 61 | #2,310 | 0.03 |
| 1997 | 69 | #2,045 | 0.04 |
| 1996 | 99 | #1,575 | 0.06 |
| 1995 | 104 | #1,505 | 0.06 |
| 1994 | 171 | #1,059 | 0.10 |
| 1993 | 169 | #1,076 | 0.09 |
| 1992 | 154 | #1,144 | 0.08 |
| 1991 | 182 | #1,009 | 0.10 |
| 1990 | 195 | #960 | 0.10 |
| 1989 | 239 | #795 | 0.13 |
| 1988 | 280 | #685 | 0.16 |
| 1987 | 273 | #676 | 0.16 |
| 1986 | 258 | #703 | 0.15 |
| 1985 | 274 | #661 | 0.16 |
| 1984 | 278 | #633 | 0.17 |
| 1983 | 297 | #597 | 0.18 |
| 1982 | 396 | #508 | 0.23 |
| 1981 | 480 | #447 | 0.29 |
| 1980 | 293 | #622 | 0.18 |
| 1979 | 348 | #540 | 0.22 |
| 1978 | 421 | #469 | 0.27 |
| 1977 | 466 | #439 | 0.30 |
| 1976 | 541 | #380 | 0.37 |
| 1975 | 519 | #393 | 0.36 |
| 1974 | 477 | #414 | 0.33 |
| 1973 | 407 | #451 | 0.28 |
| 1972 | 387 | #469 | 0.25 |
| 1971 | 436 | #463 | 0.26 |
| 1970 | 430 | #473 | 0.25 |
| 1969 | 420 | #470 | 0.25 |
| 1968 | 405 | #477 | 0.25 |
| 1967 | 326 | #522 | 0.20 |
| 1966 | 256 | #592 | 0.15 |
| 1965 | 226 | #653 | 0.13 |
| 1964 | 261 | #628 | 0.14 |
| 1963 | 242 | #649 | 0.13 |
| 1962 | 235 | #664 | 0.12 |
| 1961 | 196 | #742 | 0.10 |
| 1960 | 189 | #740 | 0.09 |
| 1959 | 159 | #812 | 0.08 |
| 1958 | 106 | #1,007 | 0.05 |
| 1957 | 95 | #1,066 | 0.05 |
| 1956 | 67 | #1,272 | 0.03 |
| 1955 | 36 | #1,738 | 0.02 |
| 1954 | 27 | #2,029 | 0.01 |
| 1953 | 21 | #2,305 | 0.01 |
| 1952 | 17 | #2,588 | 0.01 |
| 1951 | 14 | #2,822 | 0.01 |
| 1950 | 5 | #5,390 | under 0.01 |
| 1949 | 11 | #3,211 | 0.01 |
| 1948 | 5 | #5,324 | under 0.01 |
| 1941 | 5 | #4,488 | under 0.01 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Cari a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Cari has been given almost only to girls: 113 boys in 79 years of records.
Girls and boys named Cari: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Cari, and how old are they?
12,000 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 93% of the 12,870 Americans ever recorded as Cari. The median Cari alive today is 49 years old; half are between 41 and 56.
The 2020 Census counted 12,068 people named Cari (11,919 women and girls, 149 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 12,075 born in the U.S. The Census count matches that prediction to within 1%.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 2 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 1,430 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 5,940 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 3,750 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 517 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 392 |
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 Cari born?
The states with the most babies named Cari are California, Texas and Illinois, with 34% of its births recorded by state since 1910.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 1,683 | not ranked | 1.2× |
| Texas | 866 | not ranked | 0.9× |
| Illinois | 778 | not ranked | 1.2× |
| Michigan | 596 | not ranked | 1.1× |
| Ohio | 573 | not ranked | 0.9× |
| New York | 495 | not ranked | 0.5× |
| Wisconsin | 402 | not ranked | 1.4× |
| Minnesota | 379 | not ranked | 1.4× |
| Indiana | 376 | not ranked | 1.1× |
| Florida | 345 | not ranked | 0.7× |
Where Cari is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Cari is most over-represented in Utah: since 1941 it was given 1.5 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 girls’ 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 Cari with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
How common is the spelling Cari?
Cari is a less common spelling of Carrie: SSA has recorded 12,870 Cari and 267,540 Carrie since 1880.
Of these 8 names spelled alike, given to 513,109 babies since 1880, Cari is the fifth most given (2.5% of them). In 2025 it was given to 16 of their 888 babies (1.8%), the sixth most given that year.
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 Cari
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 Cari and names like it
- Compare Cari and CarrieBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1970sCari peaked in 1976.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Cari since 1910.
- The top names of 1976The year the most babies were named Cari.
- The names of Generation XMost people named Cari alive today were born 1965-1980.
- Names starting with CMost given first.