Meaning not yet researched.
Kari: US girls given the name each year, 1880 to 2025, from Social Security card applications. 90 in 2025. Its best rank was #127 in 1976.
US births per year · SSA card applications
Peaked at #127 in 1976; #2,087 in 2025. About 80% of babies named Kari in 2025 were girls.
Baby name · US data 1880–2025
#2,087 for US girls in 2025. Its best year was 1976, at #127.
Hover, tap or use the arrow keys for any year. Years with fewer than five babies of a sex are not published by SSA and show as zero.
Kari: US girls and boys given the name each year from 1880 to 2025. 90 girls in 2025. Peak: #127 in 1976 · most girls in one year: 2,221 (1975).
In 2025, 90 US girls were named Kari, making it the 2,087th most common girls’ name of the year, down 242 places from #1,845 in 2024. That is 19 fewer than the 109 girls named Kari in 2024. Its best rank for girls was #127, reached in 1976. The most girls given the name in a single year was 2,221, in 1975. For comparison, it was #1,826 in 2015 and #1,744 in 1950.
In 2025, 23 US boys were named Kari, making it the 4,470th most common boys’ name of the year, down 1,617 places from #2,853 in 2024. That is 22 fewer than the 45 boys named Kari in 2024. Its best rank for boys was #1,874, reached in 1970. The most boys given the name in a single year was 45, in 2024. For comparison, it was #7,771 in 2015 and unranked in 1950.
Social Security card records list Kari in 90 years of the 146 from 1880 to 2025, starting in 1934 with 6 babies. In all, 60,627 US babies have been given the name, 98% of them girls and 1.5% boys. Its busiest decade was the 1970s, with 18,917 babies named Kari.
Over the 10 years from 2016 to 2025, 1,240 US girls were named Kari; the busiest of those years was 2020, with 146. In 2025 that was about 1 in 17,859 of the girls in SSA’s list for the year.
Among the states, Kari ranked highest in Ohio in 2025, at #842 for girls there. It was not in the top 100 of any state. Related spellings in the SSA files include Karin (28,731 babies since 1880), Karie (5,356 babies since 1880), Cary (29,827 babies since 1880) and Cari (12,870 babies since 1880). Rarer spellings such as Karee, Kariah and Karia are summarised on this page.
Meaning not yet researched.
We publish a meaning only with a cited source and a confidence label, and never generate one. Meanings are being researched for the most common names first.
Wikidata records this spelling as a given name in Finnish, Norwegian and Seediq. That is where the name is used, not necessarily where it comes from.
Rare spellings summarised here: Karee (841), Kariah (524), Karia (456), Kaari (304), Kayori (242), Kairy (226), Kauri (156), Kayari (156), Kahri (142), Kariya (119), Kaiori (83), Kario (76), and more.
Numbers are all-time US births. Links come from Wikidata’s “said to be the same as” (P460, CC0) and our spelling rule: at most two letters different, with the same sound pattern.
No nicknames listed for Kari in the open dataset we use.
Kari is listed as a nickname for Carol.
Source: carltonnorthern/nicknames (Apache-2.0).
US girls. Rank within each state. SSA leaves out states where fewer than five girls got the name, so 46 are not listed.
| State | Births 2025 | Rank 2025 | Rank 2015 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ohio | 11 | #842 | #765 |
| Maryland | 5 | #910 | — |
| Georgia | 7 | #1,287 | #1,630 |
| North Carolina | 5 | #1,571 | — |
| Texas | 11 | #1,973 | #2,302 |
Births and national rank for each year SSA lists the name, newest first.
| Year | Girls | Girls rank | Boys | Boys rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 90 | #2,087 | 23 | #4,470 |
| 2024 | 109 | #1,845 | 45 | #2,853 |
| 2023 | 116 | #1,768 | 41 | #3,034 |
| 2022 | 130 | #1,631 | 31 | #3,657 |
| 2021 | 136 | #1,548 | 43 | #2,889 |
| 2020 | 146 | #1,471 | 33 | #3,375 |
| 2019 | 141 | #1,534 | 26 | #4,061 |
| 2018 | 139 | #1,560 | 26 | #4,055 |
| 2017 | 132 | #1,640 | 22 | #4,533 |
| 2016 | 101 | #1,979 | 13 | #6,531 |
| 2015 | 114 | #1,826 | 10 | #7,771 |
| 2014 | 111 | #1,832 | 5 | #13,078 |
| 2013 | 113 | #1,811 | — | — |
| 2012 | 112 | #1,816 | 10 | #7,846 |
| 2011 | 89 | #2,150 | 14 | #6,101 |
| 2010 | 114 | #1,803 | 5 | #13,289 |
| 2009 | 129 | #1,714 | 7 | #10,438 |
| 2008 | 135 | #1,660 | 7 | #10,482 |
| 2007 | 150 | #1,533 | 9 | #8,578 |
| 2006 | 165 | #1,384 | 6 | #11,355 |
| 2005 | 159 | #1,363 | 6 | #10,794 |
| 2004 | 143 | #1,439 | 6 | #10,673 |
| 2003 | 146 | #1,379 | 8 | #8,240 |
| 2002 | 227 | #976 | 10 | #6,802 |
| 2001 | 253 | #897 | 6 | #9,924 |
| 2000 | 293 | #783 | 6 | #9,713 |
| 1999 | 283 | #781 | 5 | #10,777 |
| 1998 | 349 | #661 | 11 | #5,653 |
| 1997 | 409 | #570 | 5 | #10,037 |
| 1996 | 540 | #464 | 5 | #9,785 |
| 1995 | 489 | #502 | 10 | #5,711 |
| 1994 | 633 | #398 | 13 | #4,669 |
| 1993 | 708 | #360 | 13 | #4,585 |
| 1992 | 823 | #327 | 11 | #5,064 |
| 1991 | 974 | #289 | 11 | #4,937 |
| 1990 | 1,107 | #256 | 10 | #5,192 |
| 1989 | 1,299 | #205 | 9 | #5,390 |
| 1988 | 1,496 | #187 | 12 | #4,050 |
| 1987 | 1,670 | #167 | 19 | #2,779 |
| 1986 | 1,601 | #170 | 12 | #3,764 |
| 1985 | 1,721 | #166 | 15 | #3,147 |
| 1984 | 1,816 | #156 | 12 | #3,573 |
| 1983 | 1,999 | #145 | 17 | #2,738 |
| 1982 | 2,220 | #136 | 16 | #2,910 |
| 1981 | 1,954 | #145 | 12 | #3,513 |
| 1980 | 1,767 | #158 | 14 | #3,178 |
| 1979 | 1,852 | #151 | 19 | #2,514 |
| 1978 | 1,969 | #137 | 18 | #2,526 |
| 1977 | 2,165 | #130 | 15 | #2,844 |
| 1976 | 2,180 | #127 | 19 | #2,378 |
| 1975 | 2,221 | #129 | 22 | #2,091 |
| 1974 | 1,805 | #153 | 16 | #2,512 |
| 1973 | 1,601 | #172 | 10 | #3,328 |
| 1972 | 1,561 | #186 | 7 | #4,206 |
| 1971 | 1,732 | #179 | 15 | #2,507 |
| 1970 | 1,667 | #194 | 23 | #1,874 |
| 1969 | 1,471 | #213 | 8 | #3,451 |
| 1968 | 1,512 | #204 | 11 | #2,664 |
| 1967 | 1,303 | #226 | 10 | #2,690 |
| 1966 | 971 | #267 | 6 | #3,725 |
| 1965 | 948 | #282 | 6 | #3,721 |
| 1964 | 1,092 | #273 | 9 | #2,965 |
| 1963 | 1,085 | #275 | 8 | #3,189 |
| 1962 | 960 | #298 | 9 | #2,946 |
| 1961 | 881 | #311 | 12 | #2,479 |
| 1960 | 749 | #351 | 5 | #4,333 |
| 1959 | 649 | #376 | 11 | #2,599 |
| 1958 | 478 | #431 | 11 | #2,578 |
| 1957 | 335 | #523 | 6 | #3,771 |
| 1956 | 238 | #620 | 5 | #4,206 |
| 1955 | 169 | #730 | — | — |
| 1954 | 123 | #855 | — | — |
| 1953 | 98 | #959 | — | — |
| 1952 | 65 | #1,181 | — | — |
| 1951 | 53 | #1,281 | — | — |
| 1950 | 30 | #1,744 | — | — |
| 1949 | 33 | #1,643 | — | — |
| 1948 | 23 | #2,043 | — | — |
| 1947 | 23 | #2,067 | — | — |
| 1946 | 22 | #1,994 | — | — |
| 1945 | 8 | #3,523 | — | — |
| 1944 | 10 | #3,042 | — | — |
| 1943 | 13 | #2,633 | — | — |
| 1942 | 5 | #4,977 | — | — |
| 1941 | 9 | #3,126 | — | — |
| 1940 | 11 | #2,647 | — | — |
| 1939 | 7 | #3,612 | — | — |
| 1937 | 5 | #4,585 | — | — |
| 1936 | 7 | #3,548 | — | — |
| 1934 | 6 | #4,053 | — | — |
About the data: counts are Social Security card applications for US births, for names given to at least five babies of a sex in a year (SSA, names.zip, public domain). Ranks follow SSA’s own order: most births first, ties alphabetical. Files retrieved 2026-10-05 (checksum on our sources page).