Chari
Feminine
There is a river called the Chari and it is disappearing along with the lake it feeds. It supplies almost all the water in Lake Chad, which has shrunk by most of its area within living memory, and the name of the river is one of the few things about it that has not changed.
How old is the name Chari?
Chari first appears in US birth records in 1941 — 84 years ago. The typical Chari alive today was born around 1968, making them about 57 years old. About 1,100 people named Chari are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Chari most popular?
Chari peaked in 1960, reaching #1764 nationally. See the whole 1960 chart.
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
Our story of Chari
The lake the river feeds sits where four countries meet and has no outlet to the sea, so its size depends entirely on what flows in and what evaporates. Within a single lifetime it has lost the great majority of its surface, through a combination of less rain and vastly more irrigation upstream, and the fishing villages that were on its shore in the nineteen-sixties are now many kilometres from any water. Tens of millions of people depend on it. Schemes to refill it by diverting rivers from the Congo basin have been discussed for decades and never funded. The name of the river is from a local language and is not securely explained, which is true of a great many of the largest features on that part of the map.
Meaningnot established
Not established
The American name cannot be assigned. It may be cut from Charity, from Cherie, from Sharon or from nothing, and the record preserves no explanation. The African river is unrelated to any of those and shares only the spelling, which is worth saying so that the coincidence is not mistaken for a source.
Pronouncing Chari
SHAR-ee
Two syllables with the stress at the front. The ch is said as sh, which is the French value; families reading it as English produce CHAR-ee and both are heard.
Nicknames for Chari
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1941
- Most girls named
- 196538 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1764reached in 1960
- Change vs 2019
- +80.0%9 in 2020, from 5
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Charis among us
people named Chari are estimated to be alive in the US today
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
Questions parents actually ask
Fashion outlook
Chari sits outside the current charts, and that is its own kind of answer: naming cycles can only date the names they carried up. A name this rare has no decade stamped on it — it cannot go out of fashion, because it was never in.
Based on 146 years of naming cycles. How we read them
The trade-off
- Short, soft and easy to say once the ch has been settled.
- Ari is a fully current unisex short form sitting in the back half.
- It is genuinely uncommon while containing no unfamiliar sound.
- The ch has two live readings and the spelling chooses neither.
- Cheri, Sheri and Shari all exist for the same sound, so spelling it out is permanent.
- There is no meaning to give a child who asks.
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What they receive
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Chari
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Charis are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,100 people named Chari are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Chari in 2025?
- Chari is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Chari with classmates?
- Chari will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More C names
The most-given names starting with C, all years combined.
Carol#2239 · Cynthia#1013 · Catherine#313 · Christine#1272 · Carolyn#1222 · Christina#770 · Charlotte#2 · Cheryl#4352
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Chari? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Chari and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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