Ari

What Ari means

Means “lion”

Of the first sense, derives directly from Hebrew: אֲרִי (arí, “lion”); compare Yiddish: לייב (leyb, “Leib”), English: Leo, Leon, French: Léo, Léon, Czech: Lev, Polish: Lew, Russian: Лев (Lev), and Ukrainian: Лев (Lev).

Source: Wiktionary, “Ari” (revision 92136296), CC BY-SA 4.0. Quoted from the etymology; we don’t write our own.

How popular is Ari?

US: Steady: #402 in 2015, #393 now. England & Wales: Rising: up from #656 in 2015.

Biggest US share so far: 2022, when 1,030 boys got the name (#328 that year). First in the US records in 1958.

How common

• About 1 in 2,114 baby boys in the US in 2025
• About 1 in 1,875 baby boys in England and Wales in 2025
• About 1 in 2,806 baby boys in Scotland in 2025

“1 in N” divides by all listed births for that sex. The US list leaves out names given to fewer than 5 babies, and the UK lists leave out names given to 2 or fewer, so the real figure is a little rarer than shown.

Where in the US

Most popular in DC (3.56 per 1,000 boys), NY (1.42 per 1,000 boys), CT (1.14 per 1,000 boys) in 2025.

SSA state data, 2025. Share of all listed boys born in each state.

US vs UK

Ari is #393 in the US and #310 in England & Wales (2025).

Same sex as this page (boys). SSA (US), ONS (England and Wales), NRS (Scotland).

Boy or girl?

In 2025, 62.9% of US babies named Ari were boys.

Counts below the publishing threshold (US 5, UK 3) are not included.

Other spellings

Other spellings parents chose in 2025

• Ira301 US · 18 E&W
• Ori76 US · 14 E&W
• Aero69 US
• Uri42 US · 3 E&W
• Aro15 US · 5 E&W
• Ara10 US · 4 E&W
• Airo10 US
• Auri7 US · 3 E&W

Names that sound the same and differ by a letter or two, with baby counts for the same sex. US and E&W counts.

If you like Ari

Boys

• Eden#544possibly “steppe, garden”^*
• Asher#28Editor’s note More popular in the US than England & Wales: #28 vs #150 in 2025
• Gideon#337Editor’s note Down from #327 in 2015 to #337 in 2025 in the US
• Matthias#372From Biblical Hebrew, meaning “gift of Yahweh”^*
• Judah#178Editor’s note More popular in the US than England & Wales: #178 vs #404 in 2025
• Asa#483“physician, doctor, healer”^*

For a sister

• Zara#212“flower”^*
• Delilah#51Editor’s note Climbing fast in the US: #115 in 2015, #51 in 2025
• Elliott#599“my God is Yahweh”^*
• Hadassah#569“myrtle”^*
• Lena#279“the Large River”^*
• Naomi#47“my pleasantness”^*

Picked from the US top 1,000 in 2025: names Wiktionary also files under Hebrew, whose US popularity since 1990 rose and fell most like Ari’s. Rank is US 2025.