Head to head · Boys' names
Akari vs Hamza
#542 vs #541 in 2025 · both climbing the charts fast
Hamza is a whisker ahead (#541 vs #542 in 2025) and both are climbing the charts fast. The records will not split these two — sound, story and your own last name will.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
The tale of the tape
On the charts, Hamza leads 5 measures of 6; Akari leads 1.
Ranks, counts and years are measured in the official US birth record; the classroom and living figures are estimates computed from it. The dot marks the side each measure favours on the charts — more common, not better.
What the records say
146 years of US births, drawn on one scale
Two curves, one scale
Who owned which decade
- 1970s: Akari —, Hamza #5951 — Hamza higher
- 1980s: Akari —, Hamza #3598 — Hamza higher
- 1990s: Akari —, Hamza #1447 — Hamza higher
- 2000s: Akari #8815, Hamza #740 — Hamza higher
- 2010s: Akari #4223, Hamza #654 — Hamza higher
- 2020s: Akari #1783, Hamza #589 — Hamza higher
Hamza stood higher in every recorded decade — 6 of 6.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Akari | Hamza |
|---|---|---|
| 1970s | — | #5951 |
| 1980s | — | #3598 |
| 1990s | — | #1447 |
| 2000s | #8815 | #740 |
| 2010s | #4223 | #654 |
| 2020s | #1783 | #589 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
The names themselves
Meaning, roots, sound and the people who carried each
Where each name comes from
Akari
light; lamplight (in its Japanese reading)
Two accounts compete because two different names share the spelling. In Japanese, akari is an everyday word for light or lamplight and a well-established given name. As an American boys' name it often owes less to Japanese than to the rhyming family of Amari, Jabari and Khari, where the appeal is the sound itself and no single meaning applies. Which road a given Akari took is a family matter, not a settled fact.
How it traveled
In Japan, Akari is a word-name — the glow of a lamp — written with characters chosen family by family. The United States picked up the spelling separately: it fits a run of melodic boys' names ending in -ari that American families, especially in the Southeast, have been building for a generation.
Hamza
Lion; strong, steadfast
Both glosses come from the same place: the Arabic root ḥ-m-z, which carries the sense of sharpness and strength, and the traditional reading of the name as "lion." The two are usually given side by side rather than in competition.
Ḥamza (Arabic) → Hamza → Hamzah
How it traveled
" From there it spread with Islam across an enormous stretch of the world, settling into Turkish, Persian, Kurdish, Bosnian, Urdu, Hausa and Malay with barely a change of shape. A Persian and Urdu romance cycle grew up around a legendary Amir Hamza, and the Mughal emperor Akbar had it illustrated in the sixteenth century as the Hamzanama, one of the great painted manuscripts.
Where a reading is contested the note says so — this page does not turn a guess into a fact. The chain is each name's recorded forms, oldest first; the story is its opening, told in full on the name's own page.
Out loud, and in short
Akari
ah-KAR-ee
Three even syllables. Japanese speakers keep them level — AH-kah-ree — while American English tends to lean on the middle. Neither is wrong.
- Kari — The natural everyday clip; as a standalone name Kari is more familiar on girls.
Hamza
HAM-zuh
Also said HUM-zah, closer to the Arabic, where the opening h is a deeper pharyngeal sound and the final vowel is short. Either version is standard in American English; the stress stays on the first syllable.
- Hamz — An informal clipping among English-speaking friends and classmates; not used as a name on its own.
- Hamzi — Affectionate family form, common in Arabic-speaking households.
- Hammo — Informal hypocoristic heard in Levantine Arabic and in Turkish and Balkan usage.
Is it right for you
The differences that decide it, laid out by what you want
Choose by what you want
Choose Akari if you want…
- a name on the way upup 1,784 places on the charts in five years
- a name with more sound in itAkari runs 3 syllables, Hamza 2
- a name that stays wholeone recorded short form for Akari (Kari)
Choose Hamza if you want…
- a name with fewer syllablesHamza is 2 syllables to Akari's 3
- plenty of nickname options3 recorded short forms — Hamz, Hamzi and Hammo
Each line is a measured difference between the two names — a rank, a count, a recorded form — never a judgement of either. Save the one that answers your question; it lands on your shortlist.
The trade-offs, name by name
Akari
Strengths
- Spelled the way it sounds — strangers land on the right pronunciation at first sight.
- Rhymes with names people already know, so it registers as familiar rather than difficult.
- Carries genuine cross-cultural reach, with an established life in Japan.
To consider
- In Japan, Akari is overwhelmingly a girls' name — worth knowing if your family has ties there.
- Hearing-based guesses like Amari, and spellings like Akkari, will follow him on forms.
- It is very new as an American boys' name, so there are no grown Akaris yet to show how it wears in adulthood.
Hamza
Strengths
- One dominant spelling that is already known to hundreds of millions of people across Arabic, Turkish, Urdu and Malay-speaking communities.
- Two syllables, first-syllable stress, no silent letters — it survives being said quickly and written on a form.
- An unbroken record stretching back to seventh-century Arabia, so it has never needed reviving.
To consider
- The -mz- cluster is unusual in English, so expect a first attempt at "HAM-za" from some people and a stumble from others. Most learn it after one correction.
- Hamzah is the standard spelling in Malaysia and Indonesia and turns up in the US too, so whichever you pick, the other will occasionally be assumed.
- There is no long-established English short form waiting in the wings — families tend to use the full name, with Hamz or Hamzi appearing informally.
Documented properties of each name — how it spells, travels and shortens — not opinions about the child.
How each is likely to age
Akari
64%chance Akari feels dated by 2040
Akari is climbing fast right now. Steep climbs tend to come with steep descents — the quicker a name arrives, the more firmly it belongs to its moment.
Hamza
49%chance Hamza feels dated by 2040
Hamza is climbing fast right now. Steep climbs tend to come with steep descents — the quicker a name arrives, the more firmly it belongs to its moment.
A reading of where each name sits on the long naming cycle — computed, not measured, and explained on the data page.
With your last name
Say both in full. The notes are facts about letters and sound — a rhyme, a shared initial, the monogram — not a verdict on either name.
Type a last name to hear Akari and Hamza in full.
Weighing the whole shortlist? Run the full comparison — up to eight names with your last name, initials, classroom projections and a printable report.
Decide together
Nobody names a baby alone
Still torn between Akari and Hamza?
Put both to the vote.
One link to your partner, your parents, your sister. Each of them gets the two names, a one-tap answer and room to say why — and every reply lands in one place.
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More than two in the running? Settle it with a bracket or run the full comparison with your last name.
More head-to-heads
Same measures, different pair. Sixty more are dealt daily in the arena.
Lists these names appear on
Where Akari and Hamza each sit in the library — alternatives in the same style, ranked by the same records.
Akari or Hamza — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Akari or Hamza?
- Hamza, in 2025: Hamza ranked #541 with 556 babies; Akari ranked #542 with 554 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Akari or Hamza?
- Akari. Over the last five years Akari moved up 1,784 places; Hamza moved up 118 places.
- Which is the older name, Akari or Hamza?
- Akari entered the US charts in 2002; Hamza entered the US charts in 1977. On the American record, Hamza is the older name.
- How many people are named Akari and Hamza?
- About 1,300 people named Akari are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 10,500 people named Hamza are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Akaris or Hamzas in the classroom?
- Akari will almost certainly be the only one in school. Hamza will almost certainly be the only one in school.
US figures from the Social Security Administration, 1880–2025. Votes are battle voters on this site, not the birth record. Data & methodology
Keep playing
Sixty more head-to-heads are dealt in the arena every day — or line up Akari, Hamza and the rest of your shortlist with your last name in one printable report.
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