Nairobi
Feminine · “cool water”
Nairobi is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 1,561 girls against 35 boys since 1880.
Nairobi is cool water in Maasai — enkare nyirobi, the swamp the city was built beside, and the reason a railway camp became a capital.
How old is the name Nairobi?
Nairobi first appears in US birth records in 1983 — 42 years ago. The typical Nairobi is a kid of about 4 — this name's wave is very recent. About 1,600 people named Nairobi are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Nairobi most popular?
Nairobi peaked in 2021, reaching #1042 nationally. Today it ranks #1867, 825 places below that high. See the whole 2021 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From enkare nyirobi to Nairobi
The story of Nairobi
The Uganda Railway reached a swampy plateau in 1899 and made a supply depot there because of the water; within a decade it was the colonial capital, and it is now one of Africa's largest cities. Place-names entered American given-name use from the 2000s, and Nairobi appears in the registers in current use.
Meaning
cool water
From the Maasai enkare nyirobi, 'cool water' or 'cold stream', naming the swamp on the site. The British railway camp of 1899 took the name and became the capital of Kenya. The Maa elements are documented and the reading is undisputed.
How the name formed
- enkare nyirobi
- Nairobi
Related forms: Enkare Nyirobi · Nairobi
Pronouncing Nairobi
ny-ROH-bee
Three syllables, stress in the middle. Maa and Swahili say it the same way.
Nicknames for Nairobi
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
- 1983
- Most girls named
- 2021242 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1042reached in 2021
- Change vs 2024
- −23.7%106 in 2025, from 139
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.
Nairobi in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Enkare Nyirobi in Maa — related form
- Nairobi in Swahili — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, Florida.
Nairobis among us
people named Nairobi are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 15,163 born in 2025 was named Nairobi
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 Iman test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Nairobi's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Iman climbed just as high around 1996, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Iman's path sketches the road Nairobi is walking now.
Nairobi 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 Nairobi is headed
Nairobi looks set to keep climbing gently, with roughly 16% 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.
Nairobi beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Nairobi in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The cool-water meaning is concrete and explains why the city exists at all.
- It names a real and major African capital.
- Three syllables with a strong middle, a rhythm that carries well.
- The city association is total.
- The colonial history of the city's founding is worth knowing.
- It is very new as a given name.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Nairobi to the vote.
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What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Nairobi
Feminine · #1867 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Nairobis are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,600 people named Nairobi are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Nairobi in 2025?
- Nairobi ranks #1867 among US girl names in 2025, with 106 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Nairobi?
- About 1 in every 15,163 US girls born in 2025 was named Nairobi — 106 in all.
- Will my child share the name Nairobi with classmates?
- Nairobi will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Nairobi
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Solei#1867 · Khalia#1867 · Emilee#1867 · Kacie#1867 · Rio#1872 · Kasey#1872 · Karmen#1872 · Judy#1872
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Nairobi? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Nairobi and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
Compare side by sideIn a hurry? Just pick a winner — one tap, no sign-up, and you see how everyone else voted.
Weighing a whole shortlist? Add the rest in the builder, or settle it with a bracket.
Cast your vote
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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