Tafari
Masculine · “one who is respected or feared”
Tafari is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 964 boys against 6 girls since 1880.
Tafari is an Amharic name meaning one who is respected, and it is half of the word Rastafari — Ras Tafari was Haile Selassie before his coronation.
How old is the name Tafari?
Tafari first appears in US birth records in 1978 — 47 years ago. The typical Tafari alive today was born around 2007, making them about 18 years old. About 900 people named Tafari are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Tafari most popular?
Tafari peaked in 2023, reaching #2575 nationally. Today it ranks #4396, 1,821 places below that high. See the whole 2023 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From tafari to Tafari
The story of Tafari
Ras Tafari Makonnen was crowned emperor of Ethiopia in 1930 and took the name Haile Selassie, power of the Trinity. Jamaican religious movements that identified him as a messianic figure took their name from his earlier title, which is why the movement is Rastafari and its adherents Rastafarians. The name is used in Ethiopia and, separately, in the Caribbean and among African-Americans.
Meaning
one who is respected or feared
From Amharic tafari, one who inspires awe or respect; Ras is a title equivalent to a duke or prince. Ras Tafari Makonnen was the future emperor's name and title before he took the throne name Haile Selassie in 1930.
How the name formed
- tafari
- Tafari
Related forms: ተፈሪ · Taffari
Pronouncing Tafari
tah-FAH-ree
Three syllables with the stress in the middle. Amharic gives even weight.
Nicknames for Tafari
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
- 1978
- Most boys named
- 202351 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2575reached in 2023
- Change vs 2024
- −23.3%23 in 2025, from 30
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.
Tafari in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- ተፈሪ in Amharic — transliteration
- Taffari in English — spelling variant
Strongest US states over the last decade: New York, Florida, California.
Tafaris among us
people named Tafari are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 74,264 born in 2025 was named Tafari
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 Kaven test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Tafari's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Kaven climbed just as high around 1968, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Kaven's path sketches the road Tafari is walking now.
Tafari 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
Tafari beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Tafari in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- A settled meaning with a genuinely consequential historical bearer.
- Six letters and three syllables, manageable to write.
- Open vowels make it easy to say in most languages.
- The Rastafari association is total and will be mentioned every time.
- The name is Ethiopian and its Caribbean use is a separate development.
- It is entirely unfamiliar to most Americans and will be spelled out.
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What they receive
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Tafari
Masculine · #4396 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Tafaris are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 900 people named Tafari are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Tafari in 2025?
- Tafari ranks #4396 among US boy names in 2025, with 23 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Tafari?
- About 1 in every 74,264 US boys born in 2025 was named Tafari — 23 in all.
- Will my child share the name Tafari with classmates?
- Tafari will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Tafari
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Odell#4396 · Corwin#4396 · Tennyson#4396 · Marques#4396 · Manu#4396 · Omid#4396 · Zackariah#4396 · Burton#4396
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Tafari? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Tafari and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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