Jacari
An Arabic name meaning "rich man" or "successful trader".
Name Census estimates that about 2,805 living Americans carry the first name Jacari. It is a predominantly male name (96.4% of registrations). The average person named Jacari today is around 14 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Jacari births was 2023 (170 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Jacari. 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.
Key insights
- • Although Jacari is used almost entirely for boys, the SSA data does show 102 girls registered with the name since 1880.
- • Jacari 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
2.8K
~ 1 in 122,194 Americans
Peak year
2023
170 babies that year
Average age
14
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,426
Tracked since 1983
Census
Jacari in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,666 people with the first name Jacari, which placed it at #8,662 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
#8,662
National first-name rank
People counted
1.7K
1,666 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.6
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
88.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Jacari
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jacari is Black at 88.5%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (6.3%) and Hispanic (2.6%). 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 Jacari 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 Jacari at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American88.5% · 1,474
- Two or more races6.3% · 105
- Hispanic or Latino2.6% · 43
- White2.2% · 37
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.2% · 4
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.2% · 3
Gender
Gender distribution for Jacari
Jacari leans heavily male at 96.4% of total registrations, but 102 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Jacari as a male name
- Ranked #1,426 in 2024
- 128 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2022 (168 births)
Jacari as a female name
- Ranked #16,132 in 2023
- 5 female births in 2023
- Peak: 2007 (17 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Jacari leans strongly male. 1,539 people counted with this name were male (92.4%), compared with 126 female bearers (7.6%).
Popularity
Jacari: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Jacari from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 991 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Jacari remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Jacari 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 Jacari during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Jacaris live
The SSA's state-level files cover 23 states and territories. Florida, Georgia, North Carolina recorded the most babies named Jacari, while Nevada, New Jersey, Missouri recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 70 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Jacari
The given name Jacari has its roots in the Tupi language, spoken by indigenous people of Brazil and other parts of South America. It is believed to have originated sometime before the 16th century when Europeans first encountered these native populations.
In the Tupi language, the name Jacari is composed of the elements "jaca" meaning "green" and "ri" meaning "little one" or "child." Thus, the name can be interpreted as meaning "little green one" or "green child." This could refer to the vibrant green colors found in the lush rainforests that were home to the Tupi people.
The earliest known written record of the name Jacari dates back to the 17th century, when Portuguese and Spanish explorers and missionaries began documenting the languages and customs of the indigenous Brazilian tribes they encountered. Some of these early accounts mention individuals with this name among the Tupi communities.
One of the first notable historical figures with the name Jacari was a Tupi chief who lived in the late 16th century. He is mentioned in the writings of Portuguese explorer Pero Lopes de Sousa, who led expeditions along the Brazilian coast in the 1530s. This Jacari was described as a respected leader of his tribe and an ally to the Portuguese colonists.
In the 18th century, a Tupi man named Jacari played a role in the Inconfidência Mineira, an important colonial uprising against Portuguese rule in Brazil. He served as a messenger, carrying communications between the rebel leaders. While the revolt was ultimately suppressed, Jacari's involvement was documented in historical records from that period.
Another notable bearer of the name was Jacari Arara, a 19th century leader of the Arara indigenous people in the Amazon region of Brazil. He was known for his efforts to protect his tribe's territory and way of life in the face of encroaching development and settlement by non-indigenous Brazilians.
In more recent times, the name Jacari gained some recognition through Brazilian footballer Jacari Sousa Santos, who played as a midfielder for various clubs in the 1990s and early 2000s, including Flamengo and Cruzeiro.
While the name Jacari is still used occasionally in Brazil, particularly among indigenous communities, it remains relatively uncommon compared to other Brazilian names of European or African origin. Its distinctive Tupi roots and meaning remind us of the rich linguistic and cultural heritage of the native people of South America.
People
Jacari + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Jacari as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with J
Other first names starting with J with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Jacari: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Jacari?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2,805 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Jacari 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 122,194 US residents.
Is Jacari a common name?
We classify Jacari as "Rare". It ranks above 95% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,834 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Jacari most popular?
The single biggest year for Jacari was 2023, when 170 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Jacari 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 Jacari in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,666 people with the name Jacari, or 0.55 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #8,662 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 Jacari 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 Jacari?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Jacari leans strongly male. 1,539 people counted with this name were male (92.4%), compared with 126 female bearers (7.6%). 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 Jacari?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jacari is Black at 88.5%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (6.3%) and Hispanic (2.6%). 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 Jacari most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Jacari in the 2020 Census, accounting for 88.5% (1,474 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 Jacari in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Jacari a male name?
Yes, 96.4% of people registered as Jacari 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 Jacari still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Jacari 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 Jacari 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 Jacari?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.