Dari
A feminine name of Persian origin meaning "precious" or "valuable".
Name Census estimates that about 651 living Americans carry the first name Dari. It is a predominantly female name (93.8% of registrations). The average person named Dari today is around 35 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Dari births was 2021 (33 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Dari. 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.
People living today
651
~ 1 in 526,504 Americans
Peak year
2021
33 babies that year
Average age
35
years old
2024 SSA rank
#6,673
Tracked since 1945
Census
Dari in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 766 people with the first name Dari, which placed it at #15,123 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
#15,123
National first-name rank
People counted
766
766 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
47.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Dari
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Dari is White at 47.3%. The next largest groups are Black (25.8%) and Hispanic (16.3%). 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 Dari 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 Dari at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White47.3% · 362
- Black or African American25.8% · 198
- Hispanic or Latino16.3% · 125
- Asian and Pacific Islander5.0% · 38
- Two or more races4.8% · 37
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.8% · 6
Gender
Gender distribution for Dari
Dari leans heavily female at 93.8% of total registrations, but 45 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Dari as a male name
- Ranked #11,200 in 2024
- 6 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2011 (9 births)
Dari as a female name
- Ranked #6,673 in 2024
- 17 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2021 (33 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Dari on both sides of the split. Of the 768 people counted with this name, 192 were male (25.0%) and 576 were female (75.0%).
Popularity
Dari: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Dari from the 1940s through to the 2020s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 127 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
Dari 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 Dari during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Daris live
Origin
Meaning and history of Dari
The name Dari has its origins in the Persian language, originating from the word "dar" which means "gate" or "door." This name emerged during the ancient Persian civilization, which flourished in the regions of modern-day Iran, Iraq, and neighboring areas from around 550 BCE to 651 CE.
Historically, the name Dari was associated with poets, scholars, and philosophers in the Persian cultural sphere. One of the earliest recorded mentions of the name can be found in the poems of the renowned 10th-century Persian poet, Ferdowsi, who wrote the epic Shahnameh, a literary masterpiece that chronicles the history of Persia.
Throughout the centuries, several notable figures have borne the name Dari. In the 11th century, Dari al-Attar was a celebrated Persian philosopher and poet who authored several works on Sufism and mysticism. Another prominent figure was Dari ibn Ismail, a 12th-century Persian mathematician and astronomer who made significant contributions to the field of trigonometry.
During the Safavid dynasty, which ruled Persia from 1501 to 1736, the name Dari gained further prominence. Dari Mirza, born in 1589, was a prominent prince and military commander who played a crucial role in the expansion of the Safavid Empire. In the same era, Dari Khan, born in 1621, was a renowned poet and calligrapher whose works were highly celebrated in the court of Shah Abbas I.
Moving forward, in the 19th century, Dari Shukoh, born in 1815, was a prominent Indian Muslim scholar and philosopher. He was a prince of the Mughal Empire and is known for his efforts in promoting religious tolerance and understanding between Hinduism and Islam.
Throughout its long history, the name Dari has been associated with intellectualism, poetry, and scholarly pursuits, reflecting the rich cultural heritage of the Persian civilization. While its popularity may have waxed and waned over time, the name continues to hold a special place in the annals of Persian culture and literature.
People
Dari + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Dari 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
Dari: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Dari?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 651 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Dari 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 526,504 US residents.
Is Dari a common name?
We classify Dari as "Very Rare". It ranks above 87% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 724 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Dari most popular?
The single biggest year for Dari was 2021, when 33 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Dari is about 35 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Dari in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 766 people with the name Dari, or 0.25 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #15,123 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 Dari 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 Dari?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Dari on both sides of the split. Of the 768 people counted with this name, 192 were male (25.0%) and 576 were female (75.0%). 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 Dari?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Dari is White at 47.3%. The next largest groups are Black (25.8%) and Hispanic (16.3%). 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 Dari most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Dari in the 2020 Census, accounting for 47.3% (362 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 Dari in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Dari a female name?
Yes, 93.8% of people registered as Dari 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 Dari still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Dari 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 Dari 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 Dari?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.