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Cari

#9,577 in 2025Girls' name

Variant of Carrie

Cari has been given to 12,870 babies in the U.S. since 1941. In 2025 it ranked #9,577 of 17,293 girls’ names in use. Its peak year was 1976, with 541 recorded.

Babies named Cari, 2025

1 in 332,000

Cari over time, 1880–2025

GirlsBoys
020040060018801900192019401960198020002020

Based on births in the U.S. Babies given the name each year. Hover the chart — or focus it and use the arrow keys — for any year. Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Cari: meaning, origin, and history

Variant of Carrie

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Cari means

Cari is a variant of Carrie.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Carrie.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 12,757 girls were recorded with the name Cari between 1941 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 541 in 1976; its best national rank was #380 in 1976.

Over 5 years its rank fell, from #4,466 in 2020 to #9,577 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank fell, from #5,154 in 2015 to #9,577 in 2025.

In the United States, 113 boys were recorded with the name Cari between 1957 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 11 in 2020; its best national rank was #4,024 in 1972.

Over 5 years its rank fell, from #7,111 in 2020 to #10,897 in 2025.

Sources & methodologyReferences, data & attribution

Meaning, origin, and language notes draw on the references below.

American popularity figures use published Social Security Administration records for this exact spelling. Counts below five for a name, sex, and year are omitted.

How common is Cari?

Everything below is computed from the 2025 data — the most recent year available.

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 332,000
10 of 3,315,165 births
Among girls only
1 in 161,000
<0.01% of girls
Rank, 2025
#9,577
of 17,293 girls’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
229,791 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Cari sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Olivia (13,544)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 2025 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.

Class of 20Under 1%
Class of 30Under 1%
Grade of 100Under 1%
School of 500Under 1%

Put another way: gather 229,791 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Cari. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Caris were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Cari was born before 1976 — so the typical Cari is around 49 today.

Median birth year
1976
About 49 years old
Biggest decade
1970s
34.7% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
4.9%
Mostly a past generation
Recorded since 1950
12,736
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

1970s — 34.7% of all recorded uses (4,432).

Is Cari rising or falling?

Rank movement and count movement can disagree — the number of distinct names in use keeps growing, so a name holding a steady count still slides down the list. Both are shown.

Rank vs 1 year ago
−3,745
Places dropped
Rank vs 5 years ago
−5,111
Places dropped
Rank vs 10 years ago
−4,423
Places dropped
Births vs 10 years ago
0.38×
Fewer babies than then
Share of its own peak
1.8%
Peak was 1976 (541)
Years since peak
49
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Volatile
27.1% average annual change
Best rank ever
#380
1976

Spellings of Cari

Cari is not the most common spelling — Mary is, with 43.3% against Cari's 0.13%.

Grouped by closeness of spelling (up to two letter changes), same sex, with a floor on all-time use. It catches Sophia/Sofia and Aiden/Ayden, and misses spellings that sound alike but look different, like Sean and Shawn.

Where Cari is used

Across 1910–2025, Cari was most concentrated in Utah — about 1 in 6,250 girls, against 1 in 15,442 across all states with data. It was least common in Nevada (1 in 100,000).

116 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1Utah1 in 6,250
  2. 2Minnesota1 in 7,692
  3. 3Oregon1 in 7,692
  4. 4Washington1 in 7,692
  5. 5Wisconsin1 in 7,692
  6. 6Iowa1 in 8,333
  7. 7Nebraska1 in 8,333
  8. 8California1 in 9,091

Shading is the share of that state's recorded girls given this name, not the raw count — otherwise the map would just show which states are biggest. Unshaded states have no published records for this period. U.S. birth records suppress state-year counts below 5; state counts therefore don't add up to the national total. Every state links to its full rankings. Cari has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Cari around the world

Where Cari ranks in official birth records elsewhere in the world. Rankings only — the number of births isn’t comparable between places, so it isn’t shown.

  • England & Wales
    1996–2025
    #3,035
    in 2025
  • Scotland
    1981–2005
    #509
    in 2005
  • Canada
    1991–1996
    #2,248
    in 1996
  • South Australia
    1966–2005
    #775
    in 2005

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, National Records of Scotland, Statistics Canada and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS, NRS data under Open Government Licence v3.0. StatCan data under Statistics Canada Open Licence. CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0.

Notable people named Cari

People whose public names include Cari, backed by Wikidata given-name records and ordered by linked Wikimedia pages. The name may be a middle name.

People data from Wikidata (CC0). Fame is measured, not judged — the order reflects how widely each person is documented, not the U.S. birth records popularity this page is otherwise about.

Cari in other languages

Cross-language forms and variants of Cari. Linked forms have their own page here.

CaryCarrie

Variant forms from Wikidata (CC0). Most are used mainly outside the United States; U.S. birth records statistics cover US usage only.

Cari by the numbers

The raw record for each sex the name is used for.

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
#9,577
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Down 5,111
Best rank ever
#380
1976
Peak year
1976
541 that year
First recorded
1941
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
12,757
Count in 2025
10

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
#10,897
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Down 3,786
Best rank ever
#4,024
1972
Peak year
2020
11 that year
First recorded
1957
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
113
Count in 2025
6

Names similar to Cari

Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.

CarliCaraMariCarleeCarlieCarterCarinaCarleyCarmaCarsonCareyCarynCarmelCaryCarenCarlyCarleneCarysAriAmariCarsynSariCarlynCarl

Names with a curve like Cari

Not spelling — timing. These names rose, peaked and faded in the same years as Cari, so they read as being from the same moment even when they look nothing alike.

BridgettChandraJanelKarrieMalissaJeannaKerrieMelisaStaciDemetriaLatanyaJeana

Sibling names for Cari

Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.

Explore around Cari

Top names of 1976, Cari's peak yearThe 1970s in fullOther names that peaked in 1976Girls' names starting with C