Sari
A feminine name of Indian origin meaning "female cloth garment".
Name Census estimates that about 2,838 living Americans carry the first name Sari. It is a predominantly female name (98.8% of registrations). The average person named Sari today is around 42 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Sari births was 2007 (66 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Sari. 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 Sari with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
2.8K
~ 1 in 120,773 Americans
Peak year
2007
66 babies that year
Average age
42
years old
2017 SSA rank
#6,858
Tracked since 1912
Census
Sari in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 3,690 people with the first name Sari, which placed it at #4,865 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
#4,865
National first-name rank
People counted
3.7K
3,690 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
74.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Sari
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Sari is White at 74.8%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (10.2%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (7.0%). 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 Sari 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 Sari at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White74.8% · 2,761
- Hispanic or Latino10.2% · 378
- Asian and Pacific Islander7.0% · 259
- Black or African American5.2% · 193
- Two or more races2.2% · 82
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.5% · 17
Gender
Gender distribution for Sari
Sari leans heavily female at 98.8% of total registrations, but 40 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Sari as a male name
- Ranked #11,972 in 2017
- 6 male births in 2017
- Peak: 2016 (7 births)
Sari as a female name
- Ranked #6,858 in 2024
- 17 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2007 (66 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Sari leans strongly female. 3,442 people counted with this name were female (93.4%), compared with 245 male bearers (6.6%).
Popularity
Sari: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Sari from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1950s, with 495 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1950s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Sari 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 Sari during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Saris live
The SSA's state-level files cover 13 states and territories. New York, California, Illinois recorded the most babies named Sari, while Michigan, Massachusetts, Georgia recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 91 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Sari
The name Sari is believed to have originated from the Sanskrit language, which is one of the oldest languages in the world and was widely used in ancient India. The name is derived from the Sanskrit word "sāri," which means "essence" or "quintessence."
In Hindu mythology, Sari is mentioned as the name of a minor goddess associated with the creative energy of the universe. She is sometimes depicted as a companion or attendant to the goddess Lakshmi, who represents wealth, fortune, and prosperity.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Sari can be found in the ancient Hindu epic, the Mahabharata, which is dated around the 8th or 9th century BCE. In this epic, Sari is mentioned as the name of a princess who was known for her beauty and grace.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Sari. One of the earliest examples is Sari of Perm (1593-1663), a Russian explorer and trader who played a significant role in the exploration and settlement of Siberia during the 17th century.
Another prominent figure was Sari Nasir (1920-2004), an Iraqi-Kurdish politician and women's rights activist who fought for the rights of Kurdish women and advocated for their education and empowerment.
Sari Nusseibeh (born 1949) is a Palestinian philosopher and political activist who has been actively involved in the Palestinian-Israeli peace process. He has served as the president of Al-Quds University in Jerusalem and has advocated for a peaceful resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
In the field of literature, Sari Barabási (1939-2020) was a Hungarian-American author and poet known for her works that explored themes of identity, displacement, and the immigrant experience.
Sari Essayah (born 1967) is a Finnish politician and former member of the European Parliament. She has been involved in various political organizations and has advocated for Christian values and family-related policies.
It is worth noting that while the name Sari has its roots in ancient Sanskrit, it has gained popularity across various cultures and regions over time, becoming a transcultural name with diverse meanings and associations.
People
Sari + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Sari as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with S
Other first names starting with S with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Sari: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Sari?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2,838 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Sari 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 120,773 US residents.
Is Sari a common name?
We classify Sari as "Rare". It ranks above 95% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 3,400 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Sari most popular?
The single biggest year for Sari was 2007, when 66 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Sari is about 42 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Sari in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 3,690 people with the name Sari, or 1.22 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #4,865 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 Sari 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 Sari?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Sari leans strongly female. 3,442 people counted with this name were female (93.4%), compared with 245 male bearers (6.6%). 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 Sari?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Sari is White at 74.8%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (10.2%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (7.0%). 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 Sari most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Sari in the 2020 Census, accounting for 74.8% (2,761 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 Sari in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Sari a female name?
Yes, 98.8% of people registered as Sari 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 Sari still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Sari 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 Sari 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 Americans are named Sari?
See how many people share the name Sari on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.