Kori
A feminine Japanese name meaning "ice" or "frozen".
Name Census estimates that about 15,501 living Americans carry the first name Kori. It is a predominantly female name (90.5% of registrations). The average person named Kori today is around 26 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Kori births was 2016 (503 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Kori. 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 Kori with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
16K
~ 1 in 22,112 Americans
Peak year
2016
503 babies that year
Average age
26
years old
2024 SSA rank
#893
Tracked since 1953
Census
Kori in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 12,492 people with the first name Kori, which placed it at #2,136 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
#2,136
National first-name rank
People counted
12K
12,492 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
4.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
62.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Kori
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kori is White at 62.0%. The next largest groups are Black (25.3%) and Two or More Races (5.6%). 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 Kori 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 Kori at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White62.0% · 7,744
- Black or African American25.3% · 3,155
- Two or more races5.6% · 699
- Hispanic or Latino4.7% · 584
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.6% · 201
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.9% · 109
Gender
Gender distribution for Kori
Kori leans heavily female at 90.5% of total registrations, but 1,537 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Kori as a male name
- Ranked #4,132 in 2024
- 26 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1989 (57 births)
Kori as a female name
- Ranked #893 in 2024
- 299 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2016 (475 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Kori leans strongly female. 11,324 people counted with this name were female (90.6%), compared with 1,172 male bearers (9.4%).
Popularity
Kori: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Kori from the 1950s through to the 2020s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 3,659 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Kori remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Kori 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 Kori during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Koris live
The SSA's state-level files cover 44 states and territories. Texas, California, Ohio recorded the most babies named Kori, while New Hampshire, West Virginia, South Dakota recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 258 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Kori
The given name Kori has its origins in the Japanese language and culture. It is a feminine name that can be traced back to the Heian period (794-1185 CE) in Japan. The name Kori is derived from the Japanese word "kori," which means "little basket" or "small container." This name was likely given to girls with the hope that they would be graceful, feminine, and able to carry and hold precious things, both tangible and intangible.
In ancient Japanese folklore and literature, there are references to the name Kori, often associated with characters who embodied traits of gentleness, elegance, and beauty. One notable example is the character Kori-no-Hime, a princess from the classic Japanese novel "The Tale of Genji" written by Murasaki Shikibu in the early 11th century.
The earliest recorded instances of the name Kori can be traced back to the 12th century in Japan. One of the earliest known individuals with this name was Kori-no-Tsubone, a court lady who served during the reign of Emperor Go-Toba (1180-1239 CE).
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Kori:
1. Kori Ubusuna (1483-1528), a Japanese female poet and calligrapher during the Muromachi period.
2. Kori Tomonobu (1589-1633), a Japanese samurai and daimyo (feudal lord) who served under the Tokugawa shogunate.
3. Kori Kumazawa (1619-1691), a prominent Japanese painter and calligrapher during the Edo period.
4. Kori Kurayoshi (1752-1828), a Japanese scholar and poet who served as a court advisor during the Edo period.
5. Kori Tomioka (1836-1905), a Japanese diplomat and statesman who played a significant role in the modernization of Japan during the Meiji Restoration.
While the name Kori is primarily associated with Japanese culture, it has also been adopted in other parts of the world, although with varying meanings and origins. It is important to note that this report focuses solely on the history and meaning of the given name Kori from a Japanese perspective.
People
Kori + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Kori 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
Kori: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Kori?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 15,501 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Kori 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 22,112 US residents.
Is Kori a common name?
We classify Kori as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 16,097 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Kori most popular?
The single biggest year for Kori was 2016, when 503 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Kori is about 26 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Kori in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 12,492 people with the name Kori, or 4.14 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #2,136 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 Kori 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 Kori?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Kori leans strongly female. 11,324 people counted with this name were female (90.6%), compared with 1,172 male bearers (9.4%). 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 Kori?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kori is White at 62.0%. The next largest groups are Black (25.3%) and Two or More Races (5.6%). 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 Kori most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Kori in the 2020 Census, accounting for 62.0% (7,744 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 Kori in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Kori a female name?
Yes, 90.5% of people registered as Kori 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 Kori still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Kori 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 Kori 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 Kori?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many people share the name Kori at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.