Imari
Masculine
Imari is given to both — 1,086 boys and 2,365 girls since 1880. See Imari as a girl nameSee other names given to both
Imari is a Japanese port that gave its name to a style of porcelain — the ware shipped from there to Europe from the seventeenth century.
How old is the name Imari?
Imari first appears in US birth records in 1969 — 56 years ago. The typical Imari alive today was born around 2009, making them about 16 years old. About 1,100 people named Imari are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Imari most popular?
Imari peaked in 1974, reaching #2050 nationally. Today it ranks #4249, 2,199 places below that high. See the whole 1974 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
Our story of Imari
Ours, offered as ours. Imari ware is not from Imari: it was made at Arita and shipped from the port of Imari, and Europe named it for the harbor it arrived from — which happens more often than one would think. The blue-and-white and the red-and-gold pieces reached the Netherlands in enormous quantities and changed European taste. The American given name probably comes from the -mari family instead, and the porcelain is worth knowing about.
Meaningscholars disagree
Not established
The Japanese place name Imari is written with characters chosen for sound and its derivation is not clear. The porcelain is named for the port rather than made there. A separate American Imari may be built from the -mari ending, and neither is documented.
Pronouncing Imari
ih-MAR-ee
Three syllables with the stress in the middle. Japanese gives even weight to all three.
Nicknames for Imari
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
- 1969
- Most boys named
- 202050 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2050reached in 1974
- Change vs 2024
- −14.3%24 in 2025, from 28
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.
Imari in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- 伊万里 in Japanese — transliteration
- Amari in English — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, Florida, California.
Imaris among us
people named Imari are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 71,170 born in 2025 was named Imari
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 Rees test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Imari's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Rees climbed just as high around 1939, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Rees's path sketches the road Imari is walking now.
Imari 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
Imari beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Imari in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Mari and Ari are both complete short forms in their own right.
- Open vowels make it easy to say in most languages.
- A real place with a genuinely interesting trade history behind it.
- It is used for both sexes, so forms may guess wrong.
- Imari, Amari and Omari are all close and get confused.
- The porcelain is the strongest association for anyone who collects.
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What they receive
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Imari
Masculine · #4249 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Imaris 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 Imari are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Imari in 2025?
- Imari ranks #4249 among US boy names in 2025, with 24 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Imari?
- About 1 in every 71,170 US boys born in 2025 was named Imari — 24 in all.
- Will my child share the name Imari with classmates?
- Imari will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Imari
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Guadalupe#4249 · Denny#4249 · Hughes#4249 · Erling#4249 · Rodrick#4249 · Elric#4249 · Ron#4249 · Wright#4249
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Imari? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Imari and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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Which one would you pick?
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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