Khari
Masculine · “kingly”
Khari is given to both — 4,766 boys and 1,954 girls since 1880. See Khari as a girl nameSee other names given to both
Khari is Swahili for kingly, and it also renders an Egyptian name — two African routes to the same three syllables, and American families have used both.
How old is the name Khari?
Khari first appears in US birth records in 1971 — 54 years ago. The typical Khari is a kid of about 9 — this name's wave is very recent. About 4,700 people named Khari are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Khari most popular?
Khari peaked in 2020, reaching #677 nationally. Today it ranks #1529, 852 places below that high. See the whole 2020 chart.
Khari appears on these lists:
Where it comes from
From khari to Khari
The story of Khari
Swahili and other African names entered American use in significant numbers from the late 1960s, as families looked past the European stock. Khari appears in the American registers from the 1970s, rises through the 1990s, and is in current use — one of a group including Amari, Jelani, Sanaa and Imani that came in together.
Meaningscholars disagree
kingly, worthy
Usually read from the Swahili khari, 'kingly' or 'worthy', which is itself a borrowing from Arabic. A second route connects it to the Egyptian Khaire or to the Arabic khayri, 'charitable' or 'beneficent'. The Swahili reading is the one American bearers most often give.
How the name formed
- khari
- Khari
Related forms: Khari · Kari · Khayri
Pronouncing Khari
KAR-ee
Two syllables, stress on the first. The kh is a plain k in English; Arabic gives it a throatier quality.
Nicknames for Khari
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
- 1971
- Most boys named
- 2020380 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #677reached in 2020
- Change vs 2024
- −31.1%113 in 2025, from 164
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.
Khari in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Khari in Swahili — same name
- Kari in English — spelling variant
- Khayri in Arabic — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, Georgia, Florida.
Kharis among us
people named Khari are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 15,116 born in 2025 was named Khari
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Khari
- #1529
- Khari on the 2025 chart
- #746
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Khari went to 113 boys in 2025, but Cary, Kari and Cari and the rest below are the same name said out loud. Together the 6 spellings went to 183, which makes it the 746th most-given boys’ name of the year — 783 places above the chart.
About 1 boy in 9,334 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 15,116 for Khari 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 Javonte test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Khari's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Javonte climbed just as high around 1993, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Javonte's path sketches the road Khari is walking now.
Khari 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 Khari is headed
Khari is easing off slowly — about 21% fewer babies a year by 2030 if the trend continues. 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.
Khari beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Khari in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The kingly meaning is transparent and undisputed for the Swahili route.
- It records a real and documented period of American naming from African sources.
- Two clean syllables with no pronunciation risk in English.
- The origin is split between Swahili and Arabic routes.
- Kari without the h is a separate Norwegian name for women.
- The kh will be flattened to k by English speakers.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
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Khari
Masculine · #1529 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Kharis are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 4,700 people named Khari are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Khari?
- Khari is the most-used spelling in US records — 113 of the 183 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Cary, Kari, Cari, Karri and Kharii.
- How popular is the name Khari in 2025?
- Khari ranks #1529 among US boy names in 2025, with 113 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Khari?
- About 1 in every 15,116 US boys born in 2025 was named Khari — 113 in all.
- Will my child share the name Khari with classmates?
- Khari will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Khari
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Indigo#1529 · Daylen#1529 · Terrell#1529 · Percival#1529 · Nestor#1529 · Manolo#1529 · Skylar#1529 · Daryl#1529
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Khari? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Khari and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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