Makari
Of indigenous Australian origin meaning "path" or "track".
Name Census estimates that about 1,752 living Americans carry the first name Makari. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 88.2% of registrations being male. The average person named Makari today is around 8 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Makari births was 2024 (246 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Makari. 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 Makari with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Makari is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 8 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
1.8K
~ 1 in 195,636 Americans
Peak year
2024
246 babies that year
Average age
8
years old
2024 SSA rank
#968
Tracked since 1998
Census
Makari in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 633 people with the first name Makari, which placed it at #17,430 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
#17,430
National first-name rank
People counted
633
633 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
78.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Makari
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Makari is Black at 78.4%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (10.1%) and White (5.5%). 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 Makari 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 Makari at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American78.4% · 496
- Two or more races10.1% · 64
- White5.5% · 35
- Hispanic or Latino5.4% · 34
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.3% · 2
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.3% · 2
Gender
Gender distribution for Makari
Makari leans heavily male at 88.2% of total registrations, but 209 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Makari as a male name
- Ranked #968 in 2024
- 232 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2024 (232 births)
Makari as a female name
- Ranked #7,799 in 2024
- 14 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2022 (26 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Makari leans strongly male. 510 people counted with this name were male (80.3%), compared with 125 female bearers (19.7%).
Popularity
Makari: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Makari 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 971 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
Makari 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 Makari during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Makaris live
The SSA's state-level files cover 22 states and territories. Florida, Georgia, Illinois recorded the most babies named Makari, while New Jersey, Arkansas, Arizona recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 38 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Makari
The name Makari has its origins in ancient Greece, derived from the Greek word "makarios," meaning "blessed" or "happy." It dates back to the 5th century BCE and was initially used as a surname or a descriptor rather than a given name.
In the early days of Christianity, the name Makari gained prominence as it was adopted by several early Christian saints and martyrs. One of the most notable figures was Saint Makarios of Alexandria, who lived in the 4th century CE and was known for his ascetic lifestyle and teachings on spiritual enlightenment.
The name Makari can also be traced back to the ancient Egyptian language, where it was spelled "Mky-r" and meant "beloved one." This spelling variation suggests that the name may have had multiple origins and influences across different cultures in the Mediterranean region.
During the Byzantine era, the name Makari was relatively common among Greek and Eastern Orthodox Christians. One of the earliest recorded examples is Makari of Pelekete, a 9th-century Byzantine monk and author who wrote extensively on monastic life and spiritual practices.
In the medieval period, the name Makari was adopted by several notable figures, including Makari I, the 10th-century Coptic Pope of Alexandria, and Makari II, another Coptic Pope who reigned in the 11th century.
Throughout the centuries, several other individuals have borne the name Makari, though their historical significance may vary. These include Makari of Corinth, a 13th-century Greek scholar and philosopher; Makari of Nicomedia, a 4th-century Christian martyr; and Makari the Younger, a 5th-century monk and hermit from Egypt.
It is worth noting that while the name Makari has roots in ancient Greece and early Christianity, its usage has been relatively limited compared to other names from those periods. It remains a unique and somewhat uncommon name, particularly in the modern era.
People
Makari + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Makari as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with M
Other first names starting with M with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Makari: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Makari?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,752 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Makari 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 195,636 US residents.
Is Makari a common name?
We classify Makari as "Rare". It ranks above 93.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,765 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Makari most popular?
The single biggest year for Makari was 2024, when 246 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Makari is about 8 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Makari in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 633 people with the name Makari, or 0.21 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #17,430 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 Makari 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 Makari?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Makari leans strongly male. 510 people counted with this name were male (80.3%), compared with 125 female bearers (19.7%). 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 Makari?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Makari is Black at 78.4%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (10.1%) and White (5.5%). 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 Makari most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Makari in the 2020 Census, accounting for 78.4% (496 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 Makari in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Makari a male name?
Yes, 88.2% of people registered as Makari 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 Makari still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Makari 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 Makari 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 are called Makari?
You can see how many people have the name Makari on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.