Kami
Feminine
Kami is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 8,925 girls against 52 boys since 1880.
Kami is the short form of Kamille and Kamryn in American use, and it is also, in a completely unrelated language, the Japanese word for the spirits of Shinto. The two have nothing to do with each other.
How old is the name Kami?
Kami first appears in US birth records in 1957 — 68 years ago. The typical Kami alive today was born around 1985, making them about 40 years old. About 8,600 people named Kami are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Kami most popular?
Kami peaked in 1972, reaching #551 nationally. Today it ranks #3342, 2,791 places below that high. See the whole 1972 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
Our story of Kami
Ours, offered as ours. Kami arrived in American records in the 1970s, at exactly the moment the K respellings were reshaping the whole set — Kathy became Kathi, Kimberly gave Kimi, and Camille gave Kami. The Japanese word it happens to match is one of the more interesting in any language: kami are not gods exactly but the presences in things, in waterfalls and old trees and unusual stones. The resemblance is a coincidence and a rather nice one, and it is not an inheritance.
Meaningnot established
Not established
The American name is generally a clipping: Camille and Camilla are Roman, from a word for a young attendant at a sacrifice; Kamryn is a modern respelling of Cameron, a Scottish surname. Japanese kami names the spirits and gods of Shinto and is not used as a personal name in Japan.
Pronouncing Kami
KAM-ee
Two syllables, first stressed. Japanese says KAH-mee, with a longer first vowel.
Nicknames for Kami
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
- 1957
- Most girls named
- 1972302 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #551reached in 1972
- Change vs 2024
- +21.1%46 in 2025, from 38
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.
Kami in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Camille in French — related form
- Camilla in Italian — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, California, Ohio.
Kamis among us
people named Kami are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 34,941 born in 2025 was named Kami
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Kami
- #3342
- Kami on the 2025 chart
- #880
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Kami went to 46 girls in 2025, but Cami is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 80, which makes it the 880th most-given girls’ name of the year — 2,462 places above the chart.
- Kami46
- Cami34
About 1 girl in 20,091 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 34,941 for Kami itself.
Spellings are grouped by a fixed rule that folds interchangeable English spellings of one sound (ck/k, ph/f, x/ks, a non-initial y for i) and keeps vowels apart, so Sean and Shawn stay separate names. It errs towards splitting: a family here is never larger than the truth. SSA national data, 2025. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Patrica test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Kami's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Patrica climbed just as high around 1950, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Patrica's path sketches the road Kami is walking now.
Kami 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 Kami is headed
Kami should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
Medium 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.
Kami beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Kami in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Four letters and two syllables, about as easy to write as a name gets.
- Camille and Camilla both stand behind it as fuller formal options.
- Read correctly on sight by every English speaker.
- It reads as a nickname to some people, which may matter on a formal document.
- Cami, Kami and Kammy all appear and none is standard.
- The Japanese word is a coincidence, and someone will assume it is not.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
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Kami
Feminine · #3342 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Kamis are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 8,600 people named Kami are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Kami?
- Kami is the most-used spelling in US records — 46 of the 80 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Cami.
- How popular is the name Kami in 2025?
- Kami ranks #3342 among US girl names in 2025, with 46 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Kami?
- About 1 in every 34,941 US girls born in 2025 was named Kami — 46 in all.
- Will my child share the name Kami with classmates?
- Kami will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Kami
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Zorah#3342 · Monique#3342 · Kinleigh#3342 · Emmelyn#3342 · Zyana#3342 · Swara#3342 · Azaleah#3342 · Elenora#3342
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Kami? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Kami and another name?
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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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