Damari
Feminine name of African American origin meaning "beautiful vision".
Name Census estimates that about 6,029 living Americans carry the first name Damari. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 87.0% of registrations being male. The average person named Damari today is around 14 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Damari births was 2016 (321 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Damari. 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 Damari with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Damari was once a predominantly female name but has become increasingly popular for boys in recent decades.
- • Damari is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 14 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
6.0K
~ 1 in 56,851 Americans
Peak year
2016
321 babies that year
Average age
14
years old
2024 SSA rank
#934
Tracked since 1968
Census
Damari in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 3,658 people with the first name Damari, which placed it at #4,893 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
#4,893
National first-name rank
People counted
3.7K
3,658 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
72.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Damari
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Damari is Black at 72.4%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (17.3%) and Two or More Races (7.7%). 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 Damari 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 Damari at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American72.4% · 2,648
- Hispanic or Latino17.3% · 633
- Two or more races7.7% · 281
- White1.8% · 65
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.5% · 19
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.3% · 12
Gender
Gender distribution for Damari
Damari leans heavily male at 87.0% of total registrations, but 792 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Damari as a male name
- Ranked #934 in 2024
- 246 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2016 (304 births)
Damari as a female name
- Ranked #6,671 in 2024
- 17 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2006 (49 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Damari on both sides of the split. Of the 3,662 people counted with this name, 2,888 were male (78.9%) and 774 were female (21.1%).
Popularity
Damari: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Damari from the 1960s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 2,698 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Damari remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Damari 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 Damari during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Damaris live
The SSA's state-level files cover 29 states and territories. Florida, Illinois, Texas recorded the most babies named Damari, while Oklahoma, Nevada, Arkansas recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 146 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Damari
The name Damari is believed to have originated from the Swahili language spoken in parts of East Africa, particularly in Kenya and Tanzania. It is derived from the Arabic word "damaar," which means "continuous" or "everlasting." The name gained popularity in the region during the medieval period, when Arabic influences were prominent due to trade and cultural exchanges.
Damari was commonly used as a name for both boys and girls in coastal regions of East Africa, where Swahili culture flourished. Its popularity spread to neighboring countries like Uganda and Somalia, where variations of the name, such as Damary or Damaris, were also used.
While there are no specific historical references to the name Damari in ancient texts or religious scriptures, its Arabic roots suggest a connection to the Islamic faith, which had a significant impact on the region's culture and traditions.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Damari can be traced back to the 15th century, when it was mentioned in historical records documenting trade and social interactions between Arab merchants and local communities in coastal East Africa.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Damari. One such individual was Damari ibn Ali al-Masri, a renowned Egyptian scholar and poet who lived in the 11th century. He was highly regarded for his contributions to Arabic literature and poetry.
Another notable figure was Damari Shalita, an Israeli singer and actress of Yemeni descent, born in 1923. She was widely celebrated for her performances of traditional Yemeni songs and her contributions to the preservation of Yemeni cultural heritage.
In the realm of sports, Damari Milstead, an American football player born in 1993, gained recognition for his successful career as a wide receiver in college and professional leagues.
Damari Shakur, an American author and activist born in 1976, has made significant contributions to the literary world with her works exploring themes of social justice, feminism, and African-American culture.
Lastly, Damari Monsanto, a Puerto Rican-American fashion designer born in 1989, has gained acclaim for her innovative and sustainable approach to fashion, incorporating traditional techniques and materials into her designs.
People
Damari + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Damari as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with D
Other first names starting with D with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Damari: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Damari?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 6,029 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Damari 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 56,851 US residents.
Is Damari a common name?
We classify Damari as "Rare". It ranks above 96.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 6,095 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Damari most popular?
The single biggest year for Damari was 2016, when 321 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Damari is about 14 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Damari in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 3,658 people with the name Damari, or 1.21 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #4,893 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 Damari 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 Damari?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Damari on both sides of the split. Of the 3,662 people counted with this name, 2,888 were male (78.9%) and 774 were female (21.1%). 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 Damari?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Damari is Black at 72.4%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (17.3%) and Two or More Races (7.7%). 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 Damari most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Damari in the 2020 Census, accounting for 72.4% (2,648 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 Damari in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Damari a male name?
Yes, 87.0% of people registered as Damari in the SSA data are male. 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 Damari still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Damari 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 Damari 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 many people have the name Damari?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.