Nefertari
Feminine · “The most beautiful of them”
Nefertari was the Great Royal Wife of Ramesses II, and her tomb in the Valley of the Queens is often called the most beautiful in Egypt. Her name is Egyptian and it says so directly: nefer is beauty, and the name means the most beautiful of them.
How old is the name Nefertari?
Nefertari first appears in US birth records in 1970 — 55 years ago. The typical Nefertari is a kid of about 11 — this name's wave is very recent. About 600 people named Nefertari are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Nefertari most popular?
Nefertari peaked in 2017, reaching #3305 nationally. Today it ranks #5238, 1,933 places below that high. See the whole 2017 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From nfrt-jrj to Nefertari
The story of Nefertari
Nefertari Meritmut married Ramesses II early in his reign and was his principal wife for at least the first twenty-four years of it; he built her a temple at Abu Simbel beside his own, in which her figure is carved at the same height as his, which is close to unique in Egyptian royal art. Her tomb, QV66, was found in 1904 with its paintings largely intact, and its restoration in the 1990s made the images famous. The name's American use is entirely modern and belongs to the tradition, established from the 1960s, of drawing girls' names from ancient Egypt and Nubia; its peak in 2017 is recent, and the name is still uncommon.
Meaning
The most beautiful of them
From Egyptian nfrt-jrj, generally rendered as the beautiful one has come or the most beautiful of them; the element nfr, beauty or goodness, is the same one in Nefertiti and Nefer-hotep. Egyptological readings differ slightly in how they render the second element, but the nfr is not in doubt and neither is the general sense.
How the name formed
- nfrt-jrj
- Nefertari
Related forms: Nfrt-jrj · نفرتاري
Pronouncing Nefertari
nef-er-TAR-ee
Four syllables, stress on the third. Ancient Egyptian vowels are not recorded, so every modern pronunciation of an Egyptian name is a convention rather than a reconstruction.
Nicknames for Nefertari
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
- 1970
- Most girls named
- 201748 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #3305reached in 2017
- Change vs 2024
- −17.2%24 in 2025, from 29
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.
Nefertari in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Nfrt-jrj in Egyptian — transliteration
- نفرتاري in Arabic — transliteration
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, New York.
Nefertaris among us
people named Nefertari are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 66,969 born in 2025 was named Nefertari
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 Kaysi test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Nefertari's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Kaysi climbed just as high around 1988, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Kaysi's path sketches the road Nefertari is walking now.
Nefertari 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
Nefertari beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Nefertari in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The meaning is settled and about as flattering as any name offers.
- The historical bearer is genuinely remarkable and easy to look up.
- Tari and Neffie both work as short forms.
- Nine letters and four syllables will be misspelled and shortened.
- It is regularly confused with Nefertiti, who was a different queen entirely.
- The modern pronunciation is a scholarly convention, not the ancient one.
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Nefertari
Feminine · #5238 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Nefertaris are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 600 people named Nefertari are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Nefertari in 2025?
- Nefertari ranks #5238 among US girl names in 2025, with 24 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Nefertari?
- About 1 in every 66,969 US girls born in 2025 was named Nefertari — 24 in all.
- Will my child share the name Nefertari with classmates?
- Nefertari will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Nefertari
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Irena#5238 · Esma#5238 · Dagny#5238 · Venice#5238 · Lisbeth#5238 · Loralie#5238 · Alania#5238 · Erma#5238
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Nefertari? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Nefertari and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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