Gauri
Feminine · “Sanskrit "fair”
Gauri means fair or white, and it is one of the principal names of Parvati — the form of the goddess associated with brightness and with the ripened harvest. It is also an ordinary Sanskrit adjective, still recognizable to speakers of Hindi and Marathi, which makes it a name whose meaning nobody has to be told.
How old is the name Gauri?
Gauri first appears in US birth records in 1979 — 46 years ago. The typical Gauri alive today was born around 2009, making them about 16 years old. About 600 people named Gauri are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Gauri most popular?
Gauri peaked in 2005, reaching #3587 nationally. Today it ranks #7133, 3,546 places below that high. See the whole 2005 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From gaura to Gauri
The story of Gauri
Gauri appears in the Puranas as a name of Parvati and has an entire festival attached to it: Gauri Puja and Gangaur are observed across western and northern India, primarily by women, and center on Parvati as Gauri. That liturgical presence keeps the name in continuous use rather than making it a literary one. It is common in Maharashtra, Gujarat and North India, and appears in Nepal as well. The 2005 American peak reflects post-1965 South Asian immigration and its second generation.
Meaning
Sanskrit "fair, white, brilliant"
From Sanskrit gaura, white or yellowish-bright, feminine gaurī. The same root gives the word for a pale complexion and, in a different application, the name of a species of wild cattle. As a divine name it identifies Parvati in her radiant aspect, in contrast to Kali, the dark one — the two are understood as forms of the same goddess.
How the name formed
- gaura
- गौरीGaurī
- Gauri
Related forms: गौरी · Gauri · Gauri · Gouri
Pronouncing Gauri
GOW-ree
Two syllables, stress on the first, with au as the vowel of cow rather than of caught. English speakers frequently say GORE-ee, which is a different word entirely. The final vowel is a clear EE.
Nicknames for Gauri
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
- 1979
- Most girls named
- 200642 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #3587reached in 2005
- Change vs 2024
- −31.8%15 in 2025, from 22
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.
Gauri in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- गौरी in Sanskrit — same name
- Gauri in Marathi — same name
- Gauri in Nepali — same name
- Gouri in Bengali — spelling variant
Strongest US states over the last decade: California.
Gauris among us
people named Gauri are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 107,151 born in 2025 was named Gauri
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Ellyse test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Gauri's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Ellyse climbed just as high around 1988, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Ellyse's path sketches the road Gauri is walking now.
Gauri sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Gauri beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Gauri in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The meaning is settled, brief and still transparent to hundreds of millions of speakers.
- It has a major devotional presence rather than only a literary one.
- Two syllables and five letters make it short by Sanskrit standards.
- The au digraph is misread as an English AW by most speakers.
- A name meaning "fair" carries color associations worth thinking about.
- Gauri, Gowri and Gouri are all standard regional spellings.
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What they receive
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Gauri
Feminine · #7133 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Gauris are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 600 people named Gauri are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Gauri in 2025?
- Gauri ranks #7133 among US girl names in 2025, with 15 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Gauri?
- About 1 in every 107,151 US girls born in 2025 was named Gauri — 15 in all.
- Will my child share the name Gauri with classmates?
- Gauri will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Gauri
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Pennie#7133 · Zina#7133 · Elzie#7133 · Rosabel#7133 · Adelene#7133 · Cruz#7133 · Kansas#7133 · Ione#7133
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Gauri? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Gauri and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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