Akari
A Japanese name meaning "light" or "brightness".
Name Census estimates that about 1,736 living Americans carry the first name Akari. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 58.7% of registrations being female. The average person named Akari today is around 10 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Akari births was 2023 (219 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Akari. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Akari with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Akari sits in rare territory as a truly gender-neutral name, given to boys and girls in near-equal numbers.
- • Akari is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 10 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
1.7K
~ 1 in 197,439 Americans
Peak year
2023
219 babies that year
Average age
10
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,625
Tracked since 1990
Census
Akari in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 948 people with the first name Akari, which placed it at #12,921 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#12,921
National first-name rank
People counted
948
948 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
36.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Akari
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Akari is Black at 36.8%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (34.2%) and Hispanic (12.4%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Akari described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Akari at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American36.8% · 349
- Asian and Pacific Islander34.2% · 324
- Hispanic or Latino12.4% · 118
- Two or more races10.9% · 103
- White5.4% · 51
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.3% · 3
Gender
Gender distribution for Akari
Akari is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 1,751 total registrations, 723 (41.3%) were male and 1,028 (58.7%) were female.
Akari as a male name
- Ranked #1,625 in 2024
- 104 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2023 (108 births)
Akari as a female name
- Ranked #1,861 in 2024
- 107 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2023 (111 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Akari on both sides of the split. Of the 942 people counted with this name, 266 were male (28.2%) and 676 were female (71.8%).
Popularity
Akari: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Akari from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2020s, with 802 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Akari by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Akari during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Akaris live
The SSA's state-level files cover 17 states and territories. California, Texas, Florida recorded the most babies named Akari, while Washington, Tennessee, Missouri recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 27 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Akari
The name Akari has its origins in Japanese culture, believed to have been derived from the Japanese words "akaru" meaning "to brighten" or "to light up," and "akari" meaning "light" or "brightness." It is a relatively modern name, with its earliest recorded usage dating back to the late 19th or early 20th century.
One of the earliest known references to the name Akari can be found in Japanese literature from the Meiji period (1868-1912). In a collection of short stories published in 1898, there is a character named Akari, whose name is described as symbolizing the "light" or "brightness" that she brought into the lives of those around her.
Over the years, several notable individuals have borne the name Akari. One of the earliest was Akari Hayami (1904-1976), a Japanese writer and activist who fought for women's rights and social justice. Another notable figure was Akari Fukamizu (1923-2011), a celebrated Japanese ceramist and artist known for her innovative glazing techniques.
In the world of entertainment, Akari Kawamura (born 1982) is a Japanese actress and model who has appeared in numerous television dramas and films. Akari Otsuka (born 1982) is a Japanese voice actress known for her work in anime series such as "Naruto" and "Fairy Tail."
Outside of Japan, the name Akari has also gained some recognition. Akari Endo (born 1989) is a Canadian artistic gymnast who competed in the 2008 and 2012 Olympic Games, winning a silver medal in the team event in 2012.
While the name Akari may not have the same historical significance as some more ancient names, its association with light and brightness has given it a positive and uplifting connotation in Japanese culture. As a relatively modern name, its popularity has grown in recent decades, both within Japan and among Japanese diaspora communities around the world.
People
Akari + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Akari as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with A
Other first names starting with A with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Akari: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Akari?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,736 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Akari going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 197,439 US residents.
Is Akari a common name?
We classify Akari as "Rare". It ranks above 93.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,751 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Akari most popular?
The single biggest year for Akari was 2023, when 219 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Akari is about 10 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Akari in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 948 people with the name Akari, or 0.31 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #12,921 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Akari in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Akari?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Akari on both sides of the split. Of the 942 people counted with this name, 266 were male (28.2%) and 676 were female (71.8%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Akari?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Akari is Black at 36.8%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (34.2%) and Hispanic (12.4%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Akari most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Akari in the 2020 Census, accounting for 36.8% (349 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Akari in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Akari a female name?
Yes, 58.7% of people registered as Akari in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Akari still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Akari in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Akari can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How common is the name Akari?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.