Girls' name · peaked in 1961

Shari name popularity since 1925

40,973 babies born in the US from 1925 to 2025 were named Shari. Half of them were born in 1964 or earlier, so the typical Shari is about 62 years old in 2026. Shari peaked in 1961 as the #142 name for girls, and it was outside the top 1,000 in 2025.

US babies since 1925: 40,973; Named Shari, 1925–2025
Peak year: 1961; #142 for girls that year
Typical age: About 62; Median birth year 1964
In 2025: Not top 1,000; #11,780 for girls in 2025
Girls / boys: 99.9% girls; 40,927 girls · 46 boys
Most popular in: Nebraska; 2.56× its national share

Peak year is the year Shari made up the largest share of US girls, in records going back to 1880. Typical age is based on births from 1925 on, not on who is living today.

Shari births per year, 1925–2025

1961 was the biggest year for Shari both by count and as a share of all babies.

Fastest rise: Between 1956 and 1961, Shari became 5.1× more common, from 1 in 3,320 baby girls to 1 in 648.
Steepest fall: Between 1984 and 1989, its share of baby girls fell by 68%, from 1 in 2,900 to 1 in 8,990.

Shaded on the chart. Both compare Shari's share of all US girls five years apart, counting only years with at least 100 babies named Shari.

Decade by decade

Babies named Shari in each decade, and its rank among girls' names in the middle year of the decade (1935, 1945 … 2025).

Decade	Girls	Boys	Rank
1925–29	27	0	–
1930s	323	0	#1,539
1940s	2,031	0	#607
1950s	6,460	5	#418
1960s	20,516	35	#184
1970s	6,439	6	#419
1980s	3,630	0	#426
1990s	1,038	0	#1,978
2000s	295	0	#5,093
2010s	127	0	#10,054
2020–25	41	0	#11,780

Ranks count every name given to at least 5 girls that year, so they can go past 1,000.

Generation fingerprint

49.4% of babies named Shari from 1925 to 2025 were born in the Baby Boom years (1946–1964). The full split by generation:

Where Shari is most popular

The index compares Shari's share of babies in each state with its share nationwide, 1925–2025 (1.50× = 50% more common). States with at least 300 babies named Shari.

State	Index	Babies
Nebraska	2.56×	688
Minnesota	2.14×	1,496
Iowa	1.87×	909
Kansas	1.70×	663
Wisconsin	1.67×	1,259

Other spellings

Spellings that sound like Shari and were given to at least 1,000 girls from 1925 to 2025, with the year each one was most popular.

Spelling	Girls	Peak year
Shari (this page)	40,927	1961
Sharee	3,871	1979
Sharie	1,976	1962
Sharri	1,299	1962

Names with a similar story

Of the other 1999 names on this site, these six had the share of babies closest in shape to Shari's from 1925 to 2025, however common each one got. Each line is scaled to its own high; the dashed line is Shari.

Names from the same era

Other common names that peaked within two years of Shari (1961).

Source: U.S. Social Security Administration national and state baby-name data, which covers names given to at least 5 babies of one sex in a year. About the data