Nairobi
Nairobi was given to 106 girls in 2025, #1,870 among girls’ names; 1,596 Americans have been recorded with it since 1971 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 1,580 Americans named Nairobi and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (99% of everyone recorded); the median is 5 years old and half are between 3 and 8.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Nairobi by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
How popular is Nairobi?
#1,870 among girls’ names, 2025
Nairobi rose from #8,306 in 2015 to #1,870 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born rose from 7.8 to 66.0 per million.
242 babies in 2021, the peak
Nairobi peaked in 2021, when 242 girls were given it, #1,043 among girls’ names. The 106 births of 2025 are 44% of that peak.
Births by sex.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 106 | #1,870 | 0.07 |
| 2024 | 139 | #1,541 | 0.09 |
| 2023 | 172 | #1,321 | 0.11 |
| 2022 | 233 | #1,080 | 0.14 |
| 2021 | 242 | #1,043 | 0.15 |
| 2020 | 215 | #1,124 | 0.13 |
| 2019 | 65 | #2,672 | 0.04 |
| 2018 | 37 | #3,982 | 0.02 |
| 2017 | 24 | #5,477 | 0.01 |
| 2016 | 21 | #6,123 | 0.01 |
Every recorded year (37)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 14 | #8,306 | 0.01 |
| 2014 | 17 | #7,218 | 0.01 |
| 2013 | 11 | #10,044 | 0.01 |
| 2012 | 16 | #7,694 | 0.01 |
| 2011 | 8 | #13,015 | under 0.01 |
| 2010 | 9 | #11,966 | 0.01 |
| 2009 | 19 | #6,988 | 0.01 |
| 2008 | 9 | #12,310 | under 0.01 |
| 2007 | 19 | #7,010 | 0.01 |
| 2006 | 12 | #9,722 | 0.01 |
| 2005 | 18 | #6,735 | 0.01 |
| 2004 | 12 | #9,095 | 0.01 |
| 2003 | 9 | #11,038 | under 0.01 |
| 2002 | 9 | #10,818 | 0.01 |
| 2001 | 10 | #9,875 | 0.01 |
| 2000 | 10 | #9,663 | 0.01 |
| 1999 | 12 | #8,060 | 0.01 |
| 1998 | 22 | #4,892 | 0.01 |
| 1997 | 6 | #13,219 | under 0.01 |
| 1996 | 11 | #7,944 | 0.01 |
| 1994 | 11 | #7,972 | 0.01 |
| 1993 | 8 | #10,246 | under 0.01 |
| 1992 | 5 | #14,782 | under 0.01 |
| 1986 | 5 | #12,170 | under 0.01 |
| 1985 | 7 | #8,962 | under 0.01 |
| 1984 | 13 | #5,430 | 0.01 |
| 1983 | 5 | #11,404 | under 0.01 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Nairobi a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Of the 1,596 Americans recorded as Nairobi, 98% are girls and 2% boys. In 2025 it went to 106 girls; SSA lists no boys with it that year (fewer than 5, or none).
Years with fewer than 20 babies given the name are left blank.
Girls and boys named Nairobi: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Nairobi, and how old are they?
1,580 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 99% of the 1,596 Americans ever recorded as Nairobi. The median Nairobi alive today is 5 years old; half are between 3 and 8.
The 2020 Census counted 673 people named Nairobi (572 women and girls, 101 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 533 born in the U.S. The Census count is 26% 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 14 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 63 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 212 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 1,290 |
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 Nairobi born?
The states with the most babies named Nairobi are California, Texas and Florida, with 63% of its births recorded by state in 2025.
| State | Births 2025 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 13 | #1,717 | 0.9× |
| Texas | 10 | #2,161 | 0.9× |
| Florida | 10 | #1,405 | 1.0× |
| Georgia | 9 | #1,045 | 1.0× |
| New York | 5 | #2,318 | 1.0× |
| North Carolina | 5 | #1,612 | 0.9× |
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 Nairobi 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 2 names spelled alike, given to 1,699 babies since 1880, Nairobi is the most given (94% of them). In 2025 it was given to 106 of their 111 babies (95%), 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 Nairobi
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 Nairobi and names like it
- Compare Nairobi and NairobyBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 2020sNairobi peaked in 2021.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Nairobi since 1910.
- The top names of 2021The year the most babies were named Nairobi.
- The names of Generation AlphaMost people named Nairobi alive today were born 2013-2025.
- Names starting with NMost given first.