Mari
Feminine
Mari is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 16,579 girls against 66 boys since 1880.
Mari is Mary in Welsh, Japanese and Basque at once — three unrelated languages that arrived at the same four letters, and in Basque it names a goddess.
How old is the name Mari?
Mari first appears in US birth records in 1897 — 128 years ago. The typical Mari alive today was born around 1971, making them about 54 years old. About 14,500 people named Mari are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Mari most popular?
Mari peaked in 1954, reaching #464 nationally. Today it ranks #1611, 1,147 places below that high. See the whole 1954 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
The story of Mari
Mari in Basque mythology lives in caves in the mountains, controls the weather and punishes lying — a genuine pre-Christian survival documented into the twentieth century. Separately, Mari is the ordinary Welsh, Norwegian and Japanese form of quite different names. All three brought it to America, where it is in current use.
Meaningscholars disagree
Not established
Three routes. The Welsh and Scandinavian Mari is Mary, whose own origin is unrecovered — proposals include the Egyptian mry, 'beloved'. The Japanese Mari is written with characters for truth and village, or ball. The Basque Mari is the name of the chief goddess of pre-Christian Basque religion.
Pronouncing Mari
MAH-ree
Two syllables, stress on the first. Welsh, Basque and Japanese all place it there; some English speakers say muh-REE.
Nicknames for Mari
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
- 1897
- Most girls named
- 1962346 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #464reached in 1954
- Change vs 2023
- −17.3%129 in 2025, from 156
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.
Mari in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Mari in Welsh — same name
- 真理 in Japanese — transliteration
- Mari in Basque — same name
- Mari in Norwegian — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, New York.
Maris among us
people named Mari are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 12,459 born in 2025 was named Mari
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Mari
- #1611
- Mari on the 2025 chart
- #126
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Mari went to 129 girls in 2025, but Mary is the same name said out loud. Together the 3 spellings went to 2,365, which makes it the 126th most-given girls’ name of the year — 1,485 places above the chart.
- Mary2,230
- Mari129
and 1 rarer spelling.
About 1 girl in 680 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 12,459 for Mari 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 Myrtis test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Mari's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Myrtis climbed just as high around 1912, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Myrtis's path sketches the road Mari is walking now.
Mari is on its second act. Revived names age gently: the generation that wore them first is far enough away that the name feels classic rather than dated.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Mari is headed
Mari 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.
Mari beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Mari in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Three unrelated living traditions use it, which very few names can say.
- The Basque goddess is a documented pre-Christian survival, which is genuinely rare.
- Four letters, two syllables, and never misheard.
- The three origins are entirely unrelated and none is dominant.
- Marie and Mary are both close enough to be substituted.
- It is very short and can be swallowed by a long surname.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
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Mari
Feminine · #1611 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Maris are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 14,500 people named Mari are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Mari?
- Mari is one of 2 recorded spellings. Mary is the more common one — 2,230 births in 2025 against 129 for Mari.
- How popular is the name Mari in 2025?
- Mari ranks #1611 among US girl names in 2025, with 129 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Mari?
- About 1 in every 12,459 US girls born in 2025 was named Mari — 129 in all.
- Will my child share the name Mari with classmates?
- Mari will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Mari
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Kalayah#1611 · Kadence#1611 · Aavya#1611 · Lainee#1611 · Honesty#1611 · Rosalynn#1611 · Asma#1611 · Jiya#1611
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Mari? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Mari and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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