Kari
Kari is given to both girls and boys: 90 girls and 23 boys were given it in 2025 (#2,087 among girls’ names and #4,469 among boys’, #3,263 among all names counting both); 60,627 Americans have been recorded with it since 1934 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 56,900 Americans named Kari and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (94% of everyone recorded); the median is 47 years old and half are between 39 and 55.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Kari by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Kari mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Kari is “a female given name from Swedish, of recent usage, equivalent to English Carrie or Cary.”
From Norwegian Kari, diminutive of Katrine.
/ˈkɑː.ɹi/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Kari?
#2,087 among girls’ names, 2025
Kari fell from #1,826 in 2015 to #2,087 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born fell from 63.9 to 56.0 per million.
2,243 babies in 1975, the peak
Kari peaked in 1975, when 2,243 babies were given it (2,221 girls, #129 among girls’ names). The 113 births of 2025 (girls and boys) are 5% of that peak.
Births by sex.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 90 | #2,087 | 0.06 |
| 2024 | 109 | #1,845 | 0.07 |
| 2023 | 116 | #1,768 | 0.07 |
| 2022 | 130 | #1,631 | 0.08 |
| 2021 | 136 | #1,548 | 0.08 |
| 2020 | 146 | #1,471 | 0.09 |
| 2019 | 141 | #1,534 | 0.08 |
| 2018 | 139 | #1,560 | 0.08 |
| 2017 | 132 | #1,640 | 0.08 |
| 2016 | 101 | #1,979 | 0.06 |
Every recorded year (90)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 114 | #1,826 | 0.06 |
| 2014 | 111 | #1,832 | 0.06 |
| 2013 | 113 | #1,811 | 0.06 |
| 2012 | 112 | #1,816 | 0.06 |
| 2011 | 89 | #2,150 | 0.05 |
| 2010 | 114 | #1,803 | 0.06 |
| 2009 | 129 | #1,714 | 0.07 |
| 2008 | 135 | #1,660 | 0.07 |
| 2007 | 150 | #1,533 | 0.08 |
| 2006 | 165 | #1,384 | 0.09 |
| 2005 | 159 | #1,363 | 0.09 |
| 2004 | 143 | #1,438 | 0.08 |
| 2003 | 146 | #1,378 | 0.08 |
| 2002 | 227 | #975 | 0.13 |
| 2001 | 253 | #897 | 0.14 |
| 2000 | 293 | #783 | 0.16 |
| 1999 | 283 | #780 | 0.16 |
| 1998 | 349 | #661 | 0.20 |
| 1997 | 409 | #570 | 0.23 |
| 1996 | 540 | #464 | 0.31 |
| 1995 | 489 | #502 | 0.28 |
| 1994 | 633 | #398 | 0.35 |
| 1993 | 708 | #360 | 0.39 |
| 1992 | 823 | #327 | 0.45 |
| 1991 | 974 | #289 | 0.52 |
| 1990 | 1,107 | #256 | 0.58 |
| 1989 | 1,299 | #205 | 0.70 |
| 1988 | 1,496 | #187 | 0.84 |
| 1987 | 1,670 | #167 | 1.0 |
| 1986 | 1,601 | #170 | 0.93 |
| 1985 | 1,721 | #166 | 1.0 |
| 1984 | 1,816 | #156 | 1.1 |
| 1983 | 1,999 | #145 | 1.2 |
| 1982 | 2,220 | #136 | 1.3 |
| 1981 | 1,954 | #145 | 1.2 |
| 1980 | 1,767 | #158 | 1.1 |
| 1979 | 1,852 | #151 | 1.2 |
| 1978 | 1,969 | #137 | 1.3 |
| 1977 | 2,165 | #130 | 1.4 |
| 1976 | 2,180 | #127 | 1.5 |
| 1975 | 2,221 | #129 | 1.5 |
| 1974 | 1,805 | #153 | 1.2 |
| 1973 | 1,601 | #172 | 1.1 |
| 1972 | 1,561 | #186 | 1.0 |
| 1971 | 1,732 | #179 | 1.0 |
| 1970 | 1,667 | #194 | 1.0 |
| 1969 | 1,471 | #213 | 0.87 |
| 1968 | 1,512 | #204 | 0.92 |
| 1967 | 1,303 | #226 | 0.79 |
| 1966 | 971 | #267 | 0.57 |
| 1965 | 948 | #282 | 0.54 |
| 1964 | 1,092 | #273 | 0.58 |
| 1963 | 1,085 | #275 | 0.56 |
| 1962 | 960 | #298 | 0.49 |
| 1961 | 881 | #311 | 0.44 |
| 1960 | 749 | #351 | 0.37 |
| 1959 | 649 | #376 | 0.32 |
| 1958 | 478 | #431 | 0.24 |
| 1957 | 335 | #523 | 0.16 |
| 1956 | 238 | #619 | 0.12 |
| 1955 | 169 | #729 | 0.09 |
| 1954 | 123 | #854 | 0.06 |
| 1953 | 98 | #958 | 0.05 |
| 1952 | 65 | #1,180 | 0.04 |
| 1951 | 53 | #1,280 | 0.03 |
| 1950 | 30 | #1,743 | 0.02 |
| 1949 | 33 | #1,642 | 0.02 |
| 1948 | 23 | #2,042 | 0.01 |
| 1947 | 23 | #2,066 | 0.01 |
| 1946 | 22 | #1,993 | 0.01 |
| 1945 | 8 | #3,521 | 0.01 |
| 1944 | 10 | #3,041 | 0.01 |
| 1943 | 13 | #2,632 | 0.01 |
| 1942 | 5 | #4,975 | under 0.01 |
| 1941 | 9 | #3,124 | 0.01 |
| 1940 | 11 | #2,646 | 0.01 |
| 1939 | 7 | #3,610 | 0.01 |
| 1937 | 5 | #4,583 | under 0.01 |
| 1936 | 7 | #3,546 | 0.01 |
| 1934 | 6 | #4,051 | 0.01 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Kari a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Of the 60,627 Americans recorded as Kari, 98% are girls and 2% boys.
Years with fewer than 20 babies given the name are left blank.
Girls and boys named Kari: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Kari, and how old are they?
56,900 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 94% of the 60,627 Americans ever recorded as Kari. The median Kari alive today is 47 years old; half are between 39 and 55.
The 2020 Census counted 55,005 people named Kari (54,318 women and girls, 687 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 57,046 born in the U.S. The Census count is 4% below that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 35 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 6,040 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 25,100 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 20,600 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 3,240 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 1,880 |
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 Kari born?
The states with the most babies named Kari are California, Minnesota and Wisconsin, with 25% of its births recorded by state since 1910; Minnesota and Wisconsin are not among the ten states with the most births.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 5,864 | not ranked | 0.8× |
| Minnesota | 5,058 | not ranked | 4.0× |
| Wisconsin | 3,529 | not ranked | 2.6× |
| Michigan | 3,360 | not ranked | 1.3× |
| Illinois | 3,110 | not ranked | 1.0× |
| Texas | 2,934 | #1,973 | 0.6× |
| Ohio | 2,754 | #842 | 0.9× |
| Washington | 2,394 | not ranked | 2.2× |
| New York | 2,281 | not ranked | 0.5× |
| Indiana | 1,849 | not ranked | 1.2× |
Where Kari is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Kari is most over-represented in North Dakota: since 1934 it was given 4.4 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 Kari 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 255,439 babies since 1880, Kari is the second most given (24% of them). In 2025 it was given to 113 of their 832 babies (14%), the fourth 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 Kari
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 Kari and names like it
- Compare Kari and KaraBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1970sKari peaked in 1975.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Kari since 1910.
- Swedish namesWiktionary’s origin for Kari: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 1975The year the most babies were named Kari.
- The names of Generation XMost people named Kari alive today were born 1965-1980.
- Names starting with KMost given first.