Shari
Shari was given to 8 girls in 2025, #11,776 among girls’ names; 40,973 Americans have been recorded with it since 1927 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 35,400 Americans named Shari and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (87% of everyone recorded); the median is 61 years old and half are between 54 and 65.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Shari by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Shari mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Shari is “a diminutive of the female given name Sharon, variant of Sherry.”
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Shari?
#11,776 among girls’ names, 2025
Shari fell from #10,049 in 2015 to #11,776 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born fell from 6.2 to 5.0 per million.
3,127 babies in 1961, the peak
Shari peaked in 1961, when 3,127 babies were given it (3,117 girls, #142 among girls’ names). The 8 births of 2025 are under 1% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 8 | #11,776 | under 0.01 |
| 2024 | 6 | #15,010 | under 0.01 |
| 2023 | 6 | #14,910 | under 0.01 |
| 2022 | 9 | #11,107 | 0.01 |
| 2021 | 5 | #17,317 | under 0.01 |
| 2020 | 7 | #13,265 | under 0.01 |
| 2019 | 16 | #7,296 | 0.01 |
| 2018 | 12 | #9,066 | 0.01 |
| 2016 | 10 | #10,731 | 0.01 |
| 2015 | 11 | #10,049 | 0.01 |
Every recorded year (98)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | 16 | #7,585 | 0.01 |
| 2013 | 8 | #12,978 | under 0.01 |
| 2012 | 15 | #8,151 | 0.01 |
| 2011 | 17 | #7,370 | 0.01 |
| 2010 | 22 | #6,153 | 0.01 |
| 2009 | 29 | #5,068 | 0.02 |
| 2008 | 19 | #7,025 | 0.01 |
| 2007 | 21 | #6,510 | 0.01 |
| 2006 | 26 | #5,354 | 0.01 |
| 2005 | 26 | #5,089 | 0.01 |
| 2004 | 25 | #5,186 | 0.01 |
| 2003 | 33 | #4,095 | 0.02 |
| 2002 | 42 | #3,322 | 0.02 |
| 2001 | 36 | #3,694 | 0.02 |
| 2000 | 38 | #3,504 | 0.02 |
| 1999 | 36 | #3,495 | 0.02 |
| 1998 | 53 | #2,608 | 0.03 |
| 1997 | 55 | #2,416 | 0.03 |
| 1996 | 75 | #1,927 | 0.04 |
| 1995 | 70 | #1,973 | 0.04 |
| 1994 | 108 | #1,472 | 0.06 |
| 1993 | 132 | #1,287 | 0.07 |
| 1992 | 144 | #1,212 | 0.08 |
| 1991 | 164 | #1,098 | 0.09 |
| 1990 | 201 | #943 | 0.11 |
| 1989 | 205 | #897 | 0.11 |
| 1988 | 261 | #718 | 0.15 |
| 1987 | 303 | #630 | 0.17 |
| 1986 | 363 | #557 | 0.21 |
| 1985 | 516 | #426 | 0.30 |
| 1984 | 580 | #383 | 0.34 |
| 1983 | 397 | #494 | 0.24 |
| 1982 | 322 | #571 | 0.19 |
| 1981 | 333 | #559 | 0.20 |
| 1980 | 350 | #539 | 0.21 |
| 1979 | 384 | #515 | 0.24 |
| 1978 | 358 | #519 | 0.23 |
| 1977 | 384 | #496 | 0.25 |
| 1976 | 487 | #415 | 0.33 |
| 1975 | 482 | #419 | 0.33 |
| 1974 | 583 | #369 | 0.40 |
| 1973 | 724 | #318 | 0.50 |
| 1972 | 823 | #299 | 0.54 |
| 1971 | 1,014 | #283 | 0.61 |
| 1970 | 1,200 | #257 | 0.69 |
| 1969 | 1,409 | #217 | 0.84 |
| 1968 | 1,418 | #213 | 0.86 |
| 1967 | 1,665 | #189 | 1.0 |
| 1966 | 1,644 | #196 | 1.0 |
| 1965 | 1,847 | #184 | 1.0 |
| 1964 | 2,114 | #178 | 1.1 |
| 1963 | 2,455 | #164 | 1.3 |
| 1962 | 2,959 | #146 | 1.5 |
| 1961 | 3,117 | #142 | 1.5 |
| 1960 | 1,888 | #195 | 0.93 |
| 1959 | 1,523 | #214 | 0.75 |
| 1958 | 1,144 | #257 | 0.57 |
| 1957 | 815 | #320 | 0.40 |
| 1956 | 604 | #356 | 0.30 |
| 1955 | 447 | #417 | 0.23 |
| 1954 | 406 | #433 | 0.21 |
| 1953 | 325 | #477 | 0.17 |
| 1952 | 319 | #473 | 0.17 |
| 1951 | 343 | #444 | 0.19 |
| 1950 | 534 | #335 | 0.31 |
| 1949 | 488 | #358 | 0.29 |
| 1948 | 270 | #495 | 0.16 |
| 1947 | 243 | #540 | 0.14 |
| 1946 | 205 | #552 | 0.13 |
| 1945 | 142 | #607 | 0.11 |
| 1944 | 165 | #570 | 0.12 |
| 1943 | 144 | #633 | 0.10 |
| 1942 | 156 | #595 | 0.12 |
| 1941 | 151 | #570 | 0.12 |
| 1940 | 67 | #878 | 0.06 |
| 1939 | 55 | #957 | 0.05 |
| 1938 | 62 | #904 | 0.06 |
| 1937 | 47 | #1,044 | 0.04 |
| 1936 | 50 | #978 | 0.05 |
| 1935 | 24 | #1,539 | 0.02 |
| 1934 | 28 | #1,403 | 0.03 |
| 1933 | 24 | #1,544 | 0.02 |
| 1932 | 12 | #2,613 | 0.01 |
| 1931 | 12 | #2,559 | 0.01 |
| 1930 | 9 | #3,302 | 0.01 |
| 1929 | 10 | #3,110 | 0.01 |
| 1928 | 8 | #3,707 | 0.01 |
| 1927 | 9 | #3,529 | 0.01 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Shari a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Shari has been given almost only to girls: 46 boys in 98 years of records.
Girls and boys named Shari: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Shari, and how old are they?
35,400 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 87% of the 40,973 Americans ever recorded as Shari. The median Shari alive today is 61 years old; half are between 54 and 65.
The 2020 Census counted 35,862 people named Shari (35,816 women and girls, 46 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 37,033 born in the U.S. The Census count is 3% below that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 509 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 16,700 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 13,500 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 4,040 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 487 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 113 |
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 Shari born?
The states with the most babies named Shari are New York, California and Ohio, with 29% of its births recorded by state since 1910.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| New York | 4,741 | not ranked | 1.4× |
| California | 4,005 | not ranked | 1.0× |
| Ohio | 2,235 | not ranked | 1.0× |
| Illinois | 2,171 | not ranked | 1.0× |
| Michigan | 2,166 | not ranked | 1.2× |
| Pennsylvania | 1,882 | not ranked | 0.8× |
| Texas | 1,808 | not ranked | 0.7× |
| Minnesota | 1,496 | not ranked | 1.7× |
| Wisconsin | 1,259 | not ranked | 1.3× |
| Indiana | 1,132 | not ranked | 1.0× |
Where Shari is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Shari is most over-represented in Nebraska: since 1927 it was given 2.0 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 Shari 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 56,276 babies since 1880, Shari is the most given (73% of them).
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 Shari
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 Shari and names like it
- Compare Shari and SharaBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1960sShari peaked in 1961.
- New York’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Shari since 1910.
- The top names of 1961The year the most babies were named Shari.
- The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Shari alive today were born 1946-1964.
- Names starting with SMost given first.