Kari
A feminine Scandinavian name meaning "pure", "beloved", or "curly-haired".
Name Census estimates that about 54,789 living Americans carry the first name Kari. It is a predominantly female name (98.5% of registrations). The average person named Kari today is around 46 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Kari births was 1975 (2,243 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Kari. 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 Kari with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Kari is used almost entirely for girls, the SSA data does show 908 boys registered with the name since 1880.
- • Compared to the 1970s, recent registration numbers for Kari have dropped to less than 5% of what they once were.
People living today
55K
~ 1 in 6,256 Americans
Peak year
1975
2,243 babies that year
Average age
46
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,841
Tracked since 1934
Census
Kari in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 55,013 people with the first name Kari, which placed it at #842 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
#842
National first-name rank
People counted
55K
55,013 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
18.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
89.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Kari
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kari is White at 89.7%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (2.9%) and Hispanic (2.7%). 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 Kari 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 Kari at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White89.7% · 49,350
- Two or more races2.9% · 1,607
- Hispanic or Latino2.7% · 1,483
- Black or African American2.6% · 1,441
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.4% · 768
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.7% · 364
Gender
Gender distribution for Kari
Kari leans heavily female at 98.5% of total registrations, but 908 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Kari as a male name
- Ranked #2,846 in 2024
- 45 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2024 (45 births)
Kari as a female name
- Ranked #1,841 in 2024
- 109 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1975 (2,221 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Kari leans strongly female. 54,318 people counted with this name were female (98.8%), compared with 687 male bearers (1.2%).
Popularity
Kari: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Kari from the 1930s through to the 2020s, spanning 10 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 18,918 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1970s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Kari 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 Kari during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Karis live
The SSA's state-level files cover 50 states and territories. California, Minnesota, Wisconsin recorded the most babies named Kari, while District of Columbia, Delaware, Vermont recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 1,134 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Kari
The name Kari is of Scandinavian origin, specifically from the Old Norse language. It is derived from the word "karl," which means "a free man" or "a man." The name was commonly used in ancient Scandinavia, particularly in Norway, Sweden, and Denmark.
In Old Norse mythology, Kari was one of the names given to the god Odin, the ruler of the gods in Norse mythology. This association with a powerful deity likely contributed to the popularity of the name among the Vikings and other Norse peoples.
The earliest recorded use of the name Kari dates back to the 9th century AD, when it appeared in various runic inscriptions and historical records from Scandinavia. One of the earliest known individuals with the name Kari was Kari Solmundarson, an Icelandic chieftain and lawspeaker who lived in the late 10th century.
Throughout history, the name Kari has been borne by several notable figures, including Kari Nørvide, a Norwegian merchant and whaling captain from the 17th century. Another famous Kari was Kari Tharaldsøn, a Norwegian resistance fighter during World War II, who was executed by the Nazis in 1942.
In literature, the name Kari appears in the Icelandic sagas, such as the Laxdæla saga, where Kari Solmundarson is a prominent character. The name is also found in other Norse literary works, further highlighting its cultural significance in ancient Scandinavia.
Other notable individuals with the name Kari include Kari Tapio, a Finnish singer and songwriter born in 1945, and Kari Voutilainen, a Finnish watchmaker and horologist born in 1962. Additionally, Kari Lehtonen is a Finnish ice hockey goaltender who has played in the NHL since 2003.
While the name Kari is predominantly associated with its Scandinavian roots, it has also gained popularity in other parts of the world, particularly in Finland and other Nordic countries, where it is still commonly used as a given name for both males and females.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Kari
People
Kari + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Kari 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
Kari: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Kari?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 54,789 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Kari 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 6,256 US residents.
Is Kari a common name?
We classify Kari as "Uncommon". It ranks above 99.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 60,515 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Kari most popular?
The single biggest year for Kari was 1975, when 2,243 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Kari is about 46 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Kari in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 55,013 people with the name Kari, or 18.21 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #842 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 Kari 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 Kari?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Kari leans strongly female. 54,318 people counted with this name were female (98.8%), compared with 687 male bearers (1.2%). 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 Kari?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kari is White at 89.7%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (2.9%) and Hispanic (2.7%). 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 Kari most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Kari in the 2020 Census, accounting for 89.7% (49,350 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 Kari in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Kari a female name?
Yes, 98.5% of people registered as Kari in the SSA data are female. 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 Kari still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Kari 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 Kari 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 common is the name Kari?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many people share the name Kari at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.