Nuri
Of Arabic origin, meaning "my light" or "my brilliance".
Name Census estimates that about 1,550 living Americans carry the first name Nuri. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 68.8% of registrations being female. The average person named Nuri today is around 11 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Nuri births was 2019 (239 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Nuri. 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 Nuri with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Nuri is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 11 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
1.6K
~ 1 in 221,132 Americans
Peak year
2019
239 babies that year
Average age
11
years old
2024 SSA rank
#2,493
Tracked since 1975
Census
Nuri in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,395 people with the first name Nuri, which placed it at #9,805 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
#9,805
National first-name rank
People counted
1.4K
1,395 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
35.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Nuri
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Nuri is Black at 35.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (24.7%) and White (21.4%). 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 Nuri 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 Nuri at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American35.3% · 492
- Hispanic or Latino24.7% · 344
- White21.4% · 299
- Asian and Pacific Islander12.9% · 180
- Two or more races5.3% · 74
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.4% · 6
Gender
Gender distribution for Nuri
Nuri is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 1,566 total registrations, 488 (31.2%) were male and 1,078 (68.8%) were female.
Nuri as a male name
- Ranked #4,650 in 2024
- 22 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2020 (40 births)
Nuri as a female name
- Ranked #2,493 in 2024
- 72 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2019 (217 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Nuri on both sides of the split. Of the 1,396 people counted with this name, 573 were male (41.0%) and 823 were female (59.0%).
Popularity
Nuri: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Nuri from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2020s, with 666 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
Nuri 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 Nuri during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Nuris live
The SSA's state-level files cover 15 states and territories. Pennsylvania, Georgia, Texas recorded the most babies named Nuri, while South Carolina, Michigan, Louisiana recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 42 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Nuri
The given name Nuri has its roots in Arabic and Persian languages, with the earliest records tracing back to the 7th century CE. In Arabic, the word "nur" means "light" or "enlightenment," suggesting that the name Nuri may have been derived from this word, potentially referring to someone who is enlightened or enlightening.
One of the earliest recorded mentions of the name Nuri can be found in the Qur'an, the central religious text of Islam. In Surah An-Nur (The Light), the name appears in reference to the concept of divine light and guidance. This association with religious texts may have contributed to the popularity of the name among Muslim communities.
In Persian literature, the name Nuri appears in several works, including the famous poetry of Rumi (1207-1273 CE), a renowned Sufi mystic and philosopher. Rumi's use of the name in his writings may have further popularized it in the Persian-speaking regions of the Middle East and Central Asia.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Nuri. One of the earliest examples is Nuri al-Abhari (1228-1298 CE), a Persian philosopher and mathematician who made significant contributions to the study of logic and astronomy. Another prominent figure is Nuri al-Din Zangi (1118-1174 CE), a Turkish Atabeg (ruler) who played a vital role in the defense of the Seljuk Empire against the Crusaders.
In more recent times, Nuri Pasha (1834-1900) was an influential Ottoman statesman and military leader who served as the Grand Vizier (Prime Minister) of the Ottoman Empire during the late 19th century. Nuri Killigil (1892-1949) was a Turkish diplomat and ambassador known for his efforts in promoting peace and international cooperation.
Another notable figure is Nuri al-Said (1888-1958), an Iraqi politician who served as the Prime Minister of Iraq multiple times and played a crucial role in the country's independence from the British Mandate. His legacy remains controversial, with some praising his efforts to modernize Iraq and others criticizing his authoritarian tendencies.
These examples illustrate the rich historical and cultural significance of the name Nuri, which has been borne by individuals from diverse backgrounds, including philosophers, rulers, diplomats, and political leaders, spanning various regions and time periods.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Nuri
People
Nuri + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Nuri as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with N
Other first names starting with N with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Nuri: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Nuri?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,550 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Nuri 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 221,132 US residents.
Is Nuri a common name?
We classify Nuri as "Rare". It ranks above 92.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,566 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Nuri most popular?
The single biggest year for Nuri was 2019, when 239 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Nuri is about 11 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Nuri in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,395 people with the name Nuri, or 0.46 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #9,805 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 Nuri 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 Nuri?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Nuri on both sides of the split. Of the 1,396 people counted with this name, 573 were male (41.0%) and 823 were female (59.0%). 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 Nuri?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Nuri is Black at 35.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (24.7%) and White (21.4%). 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 Nuri most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Nuri in the 2020 Census, accounting for 35.3% (492 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 Nuri in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Nuri a female name?
Yes, 68.8% of people registered as Nuri 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 Nuri still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Nuri 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 Nuri 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 Nuri?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.