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“Variant of Katrine — derivative of Katherine”
Girl's name · #2087 in the US (2025) · Retro
Kari reached #127 in 1976 and has faded to #2087 since. About 60,000 girls have carried it since 1934. Across the Midwest it runs about twice its national rate. Its center of gravity has moved: strongest in the West in the 1940s and 1950s, strongest in the Midwest today. Together with its spelling variants Carrie (#2726) and Khari (#3051), Kari would rank around #1129 with about 210 births last year — the newborns split about 44/30/26 across Kari, Carrie, and Khari.
Around the world: about 1 in 1,100 girls in Norway (2025).
Appears in 2020-2025 birth records of 14 states. See the full state-by-state map on this page.
Among 1,027 notable people named Kari:
Political leaders appear 1.87× more often than among typical names — e.g. Kari Lake, American journalist and politician, head of Voice of America (born 1969).
Similar names: Carrie · Mindy · Cara · Mariyah · Jenny · Charity
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