Kharis
A feminine Persian name meaning "sun rays" or "sunshine".
Name Census estimates that about 278 living Americans carry the first name Kharis. It is a predominantly female name (98.2% of registrations). The average person named Kharis today is around 14 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Kharis births was 2019 (21 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Kharis. 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 Kharis with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
278
~ 1 in 1,232,929 Americans
Peak year
2019
21 babies that year
Average age
14
years old
1984 SSA rank
#6,869
Tracked since 1984
Census
Kharis in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 289 people with the first name Kharis, which placed it at #30,250 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
#30,250
National first-name rank
People counted
289
289 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
44.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Kharis
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kharis is Black at 44.3%. The next largest groups are White (33.9%) and Hispanic (9.0%). 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 Kharis 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 Kharis at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American44.3% · 128
- White33.9% · 98
- Hispanic or Latino9.0% · 26
- Two or more races8.7% · 25
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.1% · 6
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.1% · 6
Gender
Gender distribution for Kharis
Kharis leans heavily female at 98.2% of total registrations, but 5 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Kharis as a male name
- Ranked #6,869 in 1984
- 5 male births in 1984
- Peak: 1984 (5 births)
Kharis as a female name
- Ranked #8,684 in 2024
- 12 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2019 (21 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Kharis leans strongly female. 235 people counted with this name were female (81.9%), compared with 52 male bearers (18.1%).
Popularity
Kharis: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Kharis 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 128 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Kharis remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Kharis 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 Kharis during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Kharis
The name Kharis has its origins in ancient Egypt, dating back to the 18th Dynasty of the New Kingdom period, which spanned from approximately 1550 to 1292 BC. It is derived from the ancient Egyptian word "ḫꜣry," which means "to be pleased" or "to be satisfied."
In ancient Egyptian mythology, Kharis was the name of a minor goddess who personified the concepts of favor, grace, and beauty. She was often depicted as a young woman with a lotus flower on her head, symbolizing her association with renewal and fertility.
The earliest recorded use of the name Kharis can be found in hieroglyphic inscriptions and papyrus documents from ancient Egypt. One notable example is the mention of a woman named Kharis in the Wilbour Papyrus, which dates back to around 1150 BC and contains accounts of legal disputes and transactions.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Kharis. One of the earliest was Kharis of Lindos, a renowned sculptor from the island of Rhodes who lived in the 6th century BC. His most famous work was the Colossus of Rhodes, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.
Another noteworthy figure was Kharis of Mytilene, a Greek philosopher and mathematician who lived in the 5th century BC. He is credited with developing the method of exhaustion, a technique used to calculate the area of a circle and other geometric figures.
In the 3rd century AD, Kharis of Apamea was a renowned Roman physician and medical writer. He authored several influential works on anatomy, physiology, and pharmacology, contributing significantly to the advancement of medical knowledge in the ancient world.
During the Byzantine era, Kharis of Amida was a prominent philosopher and theologian who lived in the 6th century AD. He played a crucial role in the development of Christian thought and was known for his commentaries on the works of Aristotle and other ancient philosophers.
In the 20th century, Kharis Rallis was a Greek politician and diplomat who served as the Prime Minister of Greece from 1946 to 1947. He played a significant role in the country's transition to democracy after the end of World War II.
While the name Kharis has ancient roots in Egypt and has been used throughout history, it has also maintained a presence in various cultures and regions over time, reflecting its enduring appeal and the diverse influences that have shaped its meaning and significance.
People
Kharis + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Kharis as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with K
Other first names starting with K with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Kharis: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Kharis?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 278 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Kharis 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 1,232,929 US residents.
Is Kharis a common name?
We classify Kharis as "Very Rare". It ranks above 78.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 281 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Kharis most popular?
The single biggest year for Kharis was 2019, when 21 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Kharis 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 Kharis in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 289 people with the name Kharis, or 0.10 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #30,250 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 Kharis 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 Kharis?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Kharis leans strongly female. 235 people counted with this name were female (81.9%), compared with 52 male bearers (18.1%). 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 Kharis?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kharis is Black at 44.3%. The next largest groups are White (33.9%) and Hispanic (9.0%). 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 Kharis most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Kharis in the 2020 Census, accounting for 44.3% (128 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 Kharis in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Kharis a female name?
Yes, 98.2% of people registered as Kharis 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 Kharis still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Kharis 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 Kharis 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 share the name Kharis?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.