Kamari
A feminine name of Arabic origin meaning "moon" or "moonlight".
Name Census estimates that about 17,201 living Americans carry the first name Kamari. It sits at #386 in the overall ranking, outside the top 50 but still well-represented. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 67.5% of registrations being male. The average person named Kamari today is around 12 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Kamari births was 2023 (1,226 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Kamari. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Kamari with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Kamari is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 12 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
17K
~ 1 in 19,926 Americans
Peak year
2023
1,226 babies that year
Average age
12
years old
2024 SSA rank
#386
Tracked since 1978
Census
Kamari in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 9,011 people with the first name Kamari, which placed it at #2,633 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#2,633
National first-name rank
People counted
9.0K
9,011 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
3.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
84.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Kamari
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kamari is Black at 84.9%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (8.3%) and Hispanic (4.2%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Kamari described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Kamari at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American84.9% · 7,652
- Two or more races8.3% · 746
- Hispanic or Latino4.2% · 378
- White2.1% · 187
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.3% · 25
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.3% · 23
Gender
Gender distribution for Kamari
Kamari is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 17,360 total registrations, 11,722 (67.5%) were male and 5,638 (32.5%) were female.
Kamari as a male name
- Ranked #386 in 2024
- 840 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2022 (885 births)
Kamari as a female name
- Ranked #1,078 in 2024
- 230 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2023 (343 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Kamari on both sides of the split. Of the 9,011 people counted with this name, 5,779 were male (64.1%) and 3,232 were female (35.9%).
Popularity
Kamari: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Kamari from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 6,511 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Kamari by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Kamari during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Kamaris live
The SSA's state-level files cover 37 states and territories. Florida, Georgia, Texas recorded the most babies named Kamari, while West Virginia, New Mexico, Kansas recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 409 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Kamari
The name Kamari is of Japanese origin, derived from the Japanese word "kamari," which means "guard" or "protector." It is believed to have first emerged as a given name during the Heian period in Japan, which spanned from 794 to 1185 AD.
In ancient Japanese texts and historical records, the name Kamari was occasionally used to refer to individuals who held positions as guards or protectors, particularly in noble households or within the imperial court. The earliest known record of the name dates back to the 10th century AD, when it was mentioned in a scroll documenting the lineage of a noble family.
One of the earliest documented individuals with the name Kamari was Kamari no Hiromoto, a samurai warrior who lived during the late 12th century. He was renowned for his bravery and loyalty, serving as a personal guard to a prominent daimyo (feudal lord) during the Genpei War, a conflict between the Minamoto and Taira clans.
In the 14th century, there was a Buddhist monk named Kamari no Mitsunaga, who was highly respected for his teachings and spiritual guidance. He is credited with founding a branch of Zen Buddhism that emphasized the importance of mindfulness and self-discipline.
During the Edo period (1603-1868), a famous artist named Kamari no Kiyonobu gained recognition for his intricate woodblock prints depicting scenes from traditional kabuki theater performances. His works were highly sought after by art collectors and were instrumental in preserving the aesthetic traditions of Japanese ukiyo-e art.
Another notable figure with the name Kamari was Kamari no Masako, a female scholar and poet who lived in the late 17th century. She was celebrated for her literary works, which explored themes of nature, love, and the human condition. Her poetry anthology, "Kamari no Kusunoki," is still widely studied and admired by scholars of classical Japanese literature.
While the name Kamari has its roots in ancient Japan, it has gradually gained popularity in other parts of the world, particularly in recent decades. However, its historical significance and cultural associations remain deeply rooted in Japanese tradition and heritage.
People
Kamari + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Kamari as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with K
Other first names starting with K with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Kamari: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Kamari?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 17,201 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Kamari going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 19,926 US residents.
Is Kamari a common name?
We classify Kamari as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 17,360 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Kamari most popular?
The single biggest year for Kamari was 2023, when 1,226 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Kamari is about 12 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Kamari in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 9,011 people with the name Kamari, or 2.98 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #2,633 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Kamari in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Kamari?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Kamari on both sides of the split. Of the 9,011 people counted with this name, 5,779 were male (64.1%) and 3,232 were female (35.9%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Kamari?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kamari is Black at 84.9%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (8.3%) and Hispanic (4.2%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Kamari most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Kamari in the 2020 Census, accounting for 84.9% (7,652 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Kamari in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Kamari a male name?
Yes, 67.5% of people registered as Kamari in the SSA data are male. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Kamari still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Kamari in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Kamari can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people have the name Kamari?
For a quick modern take, check how many people have the name Kamari on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org.