Kári

Locally spelled Claire in GB United Kingdom, AU Australia, PH Philippines and 1 more, Kari in NO Norway, FI Finland and Carrie in US United States.

Spellings marked ● are how people bearing the name write it in our records, and ○ marks a model's transliteration; click a spelling to open its page.

Attested across 24 languages in the etymology graph.

Kári is also recorded as 3 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• Spanish given name14 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Mexico, Finland, France

  Languages: Spanish, Portuguese, French

  Also written Kari, Kar-I, Kãřį, Karí, Kàri

• a separate name8 spellings in the group

  Also written Ḳâri, Kāri, Karî, Ḳârî, Kari

• a separate given name12 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in India, United States, Norway, United Kingdom

  Also written Kari, Kẫrî, Káŕi, Kårï, Kärí

15 further groups record this spelling and are not listed here.

Grouping is the name graph's, not a register's: two spellings join a group when the evidence links them, so a group is a claim about the records rather than about the people.

Kári is also recorded in one other lexicon, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.

• In Faroese, a male given name, compare Norwegian Kåre

  as a word·kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

Ordered by how much of this spelling's record each language holds, so a sense from a language the name is barely used in sits last rather than first.

• Kári Leivssonb. 1950FODanish poet
• Kári P. Højgaardb. 1951FOFaroese politician
• Kári Gíslasonb. 1972ISIcelandic-Australian writer
• Kári á Rógvib. 1973FOFaroese law professor and politician (1973-2015)
• Kári Árnasonb. 1982ISIcelandic association football player
• Kári Kristjánssonb. 1984ISIcelandic handball player
• Kári Gunnarssonb. 1991ISbadminton player
• Kári Arnarssonb. 2002ISIcelandic ice hockey player
• Kari Slaterb. 2012DEGerman composer
• Kári ÞórðarsonISIcelandic actress

The ten people covered by the most Wikipedia language editions — a proxy for cross-cultural notability, which favours historical and Western figures over equally prominent contemporary ones — shown by birth year. Source: Wikidata (CC0).

A formal English salutation is built on the surname, so it needs a full name — on its own, a first name only supports the informal form.

Register rows as of the 2026-10-09 data build.

What does the name Kári mean, and where does it come from?

From Old Norse Kári (“gust of wind”), related to kárr (“curly-haired”), from a Proto-Germanic root related to *kreukaną (“to fold up, wrinkle”). Recorded by Wiktionary and Nordic Names.

How do you pronounce Kári?

A machine transcription gives /kʰauːrɪ/ (IPA) for Icelandic.

How common is the name Kári?

In Finland, the national register counted 41,301 people named Kári, about 1 in 135 residents.

How common is Kári compared with other names?

In the United States, Kári is the 133rd most common given name of 2,815,431 given names recorded there.

Is Kári a male or female name?

Kári is a male name. National registers that list it by sex list it as male: Iceland (Hagstofa, 2023) and Faroe Islands (Hagstova Føroya).

In which country does Kári have the most bearers?

In the United States, the national register counted about 164 thousand people named Claire, more than in any other country we hold.

Where is Kári most common?

Measured as a share of residents rather than as a count, Kári is densest in Finland — about 1 in 135 people — even though United States holds more of our records for it.