Inari
Feminine · “the Japanese kami of rice”
Inari is given to both — 559 girls and 30 boys since 1880. See other names given to both
Inari has two homes at opposite ends of the world. In Japan it is a kami of rice and prosperity, whose thousands of shrines are marked by red gates and guarded by stone foxes. In Finland it is a great lake in Sami country, north of the Arctic Circle, and the municipality around it. Neither borrowed from the other.
How old is the name Inari?
Inari first appears in US birth records in 1994 — 31 years ago. The typical Inari is a kid of about 8 — this name's wave is very recent. About 600 people named Inari are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Inari most popular?
Inari peaked in 2023, reaching #3014 nationally. Today it ranks #4758, 1,744 places below that high. See the whole 2023 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
The story of Inari
Inari is one of the most widely worshipped kami in Japan, with tens of thousands of shrines, and the fox is the messenger rather than the god, which is a distinction that gets lost abroad. The great shrine at Fushimi, with its tunnel of red gates, is among the most photographed places in the country. Finland's Inari is something else entirely: a lake of a thousand islands and the Sami municipality named for it, one of the centers of Sami language and culture. American use draws on both, and on neither, since the sound alone is often what recommends it.
Meaningscholars disagree
the Japanese kami of rice, or the Finnish lake
The Japanese Inari is generally read as carrying rice, from the characters used to write it, though the name is older than that writing and its original sense is not certain. The Finnish Inari is from the Sami name for the lake, whose meaning is also unsettled. The two are entirely unconnected and share only their spelling in the Latin alphabet.
Pronouncing Inari
ee-NAH-ree
Three syllables, all open, with even weight in Japanese and the stress in front in Finnish. English speakers usually put it on the second, which nobody minds.
Nicknames for Inari
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
- 1994
- Most girls named
- 202355 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #3014reached in 2023
- Change vs 2024
- −20.0%28 in 2025, from 35
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.
Inari in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- 稲荷 in Japanese — transliteration
- Inari in Finnish — same name
- Anár in Northern Sami — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, Florida.
Inaris among us
people named Inari are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 57,402 born in 2025 was named Inari
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 Kylia test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Inari's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Kylia climbed just as high around 1998, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Kylia's path sketches the road Inari is walking now.
Inari 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
Where Inari is headed
Inari looks set to keep climbing gently, with roughly 21% more babies a year by 2030 if the current curve holds. Its history is short or jumpy, though, so read this as a sketch rather than a promise.
Low confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Inari beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Inari in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- It is easy to say in any language: three open syllables and no difficult sounds.
- Two entirely separate real-world sources give it depth from opposite directions.
- It is uncommon in American use while being ordinary in two other countries.
- Its two sources mean two different explanations, and a family should decide which it is claiming.
- The Japanese Inari is a deity, and naming a child for a kami reads differently in Japan than abroad.
- It is close to Ari, Anari and Nari in sound and gets written back as any of them.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Inari
Feminine · #4758 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Inaris 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 Inari are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Inari in 2025?
- Inari ranks #4758 among US girl names in 2025, with 28 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Inari?
- About 1 in every 57,402 US girls born in 2025 was named Inari — 28 in all.
- Will my child share the name Inari with classmates?
- Inari will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Inari
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Marylou#4758 · Landon#4758 · Lexa#4758 · Alysia#4758 · Ixchel#4758 · Parisa#4758 · Jumana#4758 · Berenice#4758
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Inari? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Inari 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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