Kahari
Masculine
Kahari is given to both — 961 boys and 106 girls since 1880. See other names given to both
Kahari joins a Ka- front to the -hari ending, and the Swahili khari — kingly — sits near enough to be claimed for it.
How old is the name Kahari?
Kahari first appears in US birth records in 1990 — 35 years ago. The typical Kahari is a kid of about 6 — this name's wave is very recent. About 1,000 people named Kahari are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Kahari most popular?
Kahari peaked in 2023, reaching #1576 nationally. Today it ranks #1976, 400 places below that high. See the whole 2023 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
Our story of Kahari
Our story of Kahari is a story of a sound with several claimants. Swahili has khari, kingly, borrowed from Arabic. Shona has kahari, a large clay pot. And American naming has been building -ari names since Amari arrived in the 1990s. Kahari appears in the registers in the 2000s, and the record does not say which of the three any family had in mind — or whether any of them did.
Meaningscholars disagree
Not established
No settled etymology. It may reflect the Swahili khari, 'kingly', itself an Arabic borrowing. It may be a coinage on the Ka- front and -ari ending, alongside Kamari and Jahkari. A Shona kahari, a clay pot, is also cited. None is documented for this spelling.
Pronouncing Kahari
kuh-HAR-ee
Three syllables, stress in the middle. Swahili khari has two.
Nicknames for Kahari
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
- 1990
- Most boys named
- 2023110 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1576reached in 2023
- Change vs 2024
- +5.5%77 in 2025, from 73
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.
Kahari in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Khari in Swahili — related form
- Kamari in English — related form
- Kahri in English — spelling variant
Strongest US states over the last decade: Illinois, Georgia, North Carolina.
Kaharis among us
people named Kahari are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 22,183 born in 2025 was named Kahari
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 Jonathen test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Kahari's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Jonathen climbed just as high around 1988, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Jonathen's path sketches the road Kahari is walking now.
Kahari 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 scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Kahari is headed
Kahari looks set to keep climbing gently, with roughly 30% 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.
Kahari beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Kahari in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Hari is available as a short form that is a real Sanskrit name.
- Three syllables with a strong middle, a rhythm that carries unusually well.
- It belongs to a large and well-documented American naming family.
- There is no documented meaning for this spelling.
- Kamari and Khari are close enough to cause confusion.
- It will need spelling out every time.
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What they receive
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Kahari
Masculine · #1976 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Kaharis are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,000 people named Kahari are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Kahari in 2025?
- Kahari ranks #1976 among US boy names in 2025, with 77 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Kahari?
- About 1 in every 22,183 US boys born in 2025 was named Kahari — 77 in all.
- Will my child share the name Kahari with classmates?
- Kahari will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Kahari
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Winter#1976 · Donte#1976 · Jacobo#1976 · Khyree#1976 · Kru#1976 · Jaleel#1976 · Arrow#1976 · Davon#1976
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Kahari? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Kahari and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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