NameCensus.

UK girl's name

Cari

A feminine name of Latin origin meaning "beloved" or "dear".

For 2026, the newest official UK baby-name figures on this page are from 2024. That release is the current official benchmark rather than a forecast.

Cari is a girl's name in the UK records. People looking for Cari popularity in 2026 should use the latest official release, which is 2024 in this profile. In that release it ranked #2253, with 12 babies registered with the name. Its strongest year in the published records was 2007, with 33 births.

This profile covers 509 England and Wales registrations across 29 recorded years from 1996 to 2024. The figures come from ONS England and Wales and NRS Scotland, so the page is a view of published baby-name registrations rather than a forecast or a live count of people using the name today.

The latest count is about 36% of the recorded peak, which gives a quick read on how the name has moved since its high point.

We estimate that about 520 living people in the UK are called Cari. This uses published birth registrations from England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, then applies ONS national life tables to estimate how many are likely still alive. It does not forecast extra births for 2025 or 2026.

Key insights

  • Cari ranked #2253 for girls in England and Wales in 2024, with 12 registrations.
  • The name peaked in 2007, when 33 girls were registered as Cari.
  • Cari ranks best in Scotland in the latest published regional snapshot for that area, where it placed #509 in 2005.
  • About 520 living people in the UK are estimated to have Cari as a first name, after adjusting past birth registrations with ONS life tables.

Latest rank (E&W)

#2253

2024

Births in 2024

12

Latest year

Peak year

2007

33 births

Estimated living

520

2026

Meaning

What does Cari mean?

The name Cari is of Latin origin, derived from the word "carus," which means "beloved" or "dear." It was a popular name in ancient Rome and was used as both a masculine and feminine name.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Cari can be found in the writings of the ancient Roman historian Tacitus. He mentions a Roman soldier named Cari who fought bravely during the Batavian Revolt in the 1st century AD.

In the 4th century AD, there was a Christian martyr named Cari who was killed during the persecution of Christians under the Roman emperor Diocletian. She is venerated as a saint in the Catholic Church.

During the Middle Ages, the name Cari was relatively uncommon, but it started to gain popularity again during the Renaissance period. One notable bearer of the name was Cari Borromeo (1538-1584), an Italian cardinal and Archbishop of Milan, who played a significant role in implementing the reforms of the Council of Trent.

Another famous person with the name Cari was Cari Linnaeus (1707-1778), the Swedish botanist, zoologist, and physician who laid the foundations for the modern scheme of binomial nomenclature for naming species.

In the 19th century, Cari Schurz (1829-1906) was a German-American statesman and journalist who served as the 13th United States Secretary of the Interior under President Rutherford B. Hayes.

Cari Jung (1875-1961), the Swiss psychiatrist and psychoanalyst, is perhaps one of the most famous individuals with the name Cari. He is widely regarded as the founder of analytical psychology and is known for his theories on the collective unconscious and archetypes.

While the name Cari has its roots in Latin, it has been adopted and used in various cultures and languages around the world, sometimes with slight variations in spelling or pronunciation.

Sourced from namecensus.com.

Popularity

Cari over time

The chart below shows babies named Cari registered in England and Wales in the years where the name appears in the published records, from 1996 to 2024. Empty years are left out so rare names are not stretched across long periods where the published files do not show any registrations.

For Cari, the clearest high point is 2007. The latest England and Wales figure is 12 births in 2024, compared with 33 at the peak.

Babies born per year

Cari
08172533199620102024

Decades

Cari by decade

Decade totals smooth out the yearly jumps and make it easier to see whether Cari was a short-lived spike or a name that stayed in regular use. Average rank is calculated only from years where a published rank exists.

Decade Average rank Total births Years covered
2020s #2083 66 5
2010s #1761 172 10
2000s #1244 210 10
1990s #1245 61 4

Geography

Where Cari is most common

The bars show the latest published local birth counts for Cari. They are useful for spotting where the name is showing up in real numbers, while the rank beside each bar shows how strongly it performs inside that region.

Cari ranks best in Scotland in the latest published regional snapshot for that area, where it placed #509 in 2005.

Scotland
5

Across the UK

Cari in Scotland and Northern Ireland

Scotland (NRS)

#509 in 2005

4 years of NRS records, 14 total registered

Notable bearers

Famous people named Cari

  • Cari Mostert

    daughter of Bonnie (aged 14 during pregnancy) and Laurens van der Post

Related

Names similar to Cari

FAQ

Cari: questions and answers

How popular is the name Cari in the UK right now?

In 2024, Cari was ranked #2253 for girls in England and Wales, with 12 births registered.

When was Cari most popular?

The peak year on record was 2007, with 33 babies registered as Cari in England and Wales.

What is the meaning and origin of Cari?

A feminine name of Latin origin meaning "beloved" or "dear".

How many people are called Cari in the UK?

A total of 509 babies have been registered as Cari across the 29 years of ONS England & Wales records shown here, plus 14 more in Scotland.

Where is Cari most common?

In the latest published local rankings, Cari ranks best in Scotland, where it placed #509 in 2005. The regional bars on this page use birth counts, so they also reflect the size of each region.

Which records is this page based on?

The England and Wales timeline uses ONS baby-name records. Scotland figures come from NRS and Northern Ireland figures come from NISRA. Counts are registrations in published baby-name files. The living estimate uses those birth registrations with ONS national life tables.