Omari
- Pronunciation
- [O-ma-ri]
- Gender
- Male
- Meaning
- High Born
- Origin
- Egyptian
About the Name Omari
Omari descends from the Swahili Omari, ultimately from the Arabic 'Umar meaning "flourishing," "long-lived," or "prosperous." The Arabic 'Umar is one of the most-iconic names in Islamic history — anchored by Umar ibn al-Khattab (c. 583–644 CE), the second Sunni caliph and one of the Companions of the Prophet Muhammad.
Notable bearers include American actor Omari Hardwick (born 1974, the iconic American actor of Starz's Power 2014–2020 — anchoring the name in 2010s American TV memory); American basketball player Omari Spellman (born 1997, the American NBA player); the iconic American actor Omari Watkins; and the contemporary fictional Omari of various contemporary novels.
Omari's American climb has been substantial: the name climbed from outside the US top 1000 in 1995 to the US top 300 boys' rank by 2014 and the top 300 since. The name has been driven primarily by African-American naming and the broader American taste for distinctive Swahili-derived boys' names alongside Amari and Tariq. The name's appeal sits in three contemporary American naming preferences: the African-Swahili heritage with the in-built Islamic-historical pedigree, the popular three-syllable -ari ending family (Omari, Amari, Khari, Imari), and the modern visual presence. Three flowing syllables, soft consonants, and tonal warmth distinctive to multi-cultural names. The name reads as distinctly contemporary American. Common nicknames Omar (back-end shortening, a popular standalone name on its own — see separate entry on Omar), Mari, and the rare Ari each carry distinct registers; the alternate spellings Omari, Omarie, and Omarei have their own SSA tracking. International forms include Omar (Arabic original), Omari (Swahili), Umar (alternate Arabic), and the original Arabic 'Umar.
Source: U.S. Social Security Administration name data, 1880–2024 (methodology). By Marvin Tang.
Quick Facts About Omari
US Popularity History (2000–2025)
Annual US births named Omari by gender, from US Social Security Administration records. Peak year: 2018 with 618 boys named Omari (boy rank #471 that year).
Where it stands today: in 2025, ranked #687 for boys (397 US births). That's 216 places below its 2018 peak.
Source: US Social Security Administration. Limitations: US birth-certificate data only; names appearing fewer than 5 times in a given year are suppressed for privacy; spelling variants are counted separately. For names that ranked outside the US top 100 before year 2000, only the years they reached the top 100 are shown — the chart may have gaps for less-popular historical names.
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Where in the US Is Omari Most Popular?
Average boy-name rank within each state across 2016–2025 SSA records. A lower number means the name appears closer to the top of that state's boys-name rankings — a per-capita measure that isn't biased toward large states. For Omari the strongest states are Delaware, District of Columbia, Mississippi.
Strongest boys-name states
| # | State | Avg rank | Births |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Delaware | #183 | 33 |
| 2 | District of Columbia | #238 | 16 |
| 3 | Mississippi | #299 | 108 |
| 4 | Georgia | #319 | 339 |
| 5 | South Carolina | #367 | 125 |
| 6 | Florida | #377 | 453 |
| 7 | Connecticut | #380 | 47 |
| 8 | New Jersey | #382 | 208 |
| 9 | Maryland | #400 | 133 |
| 10 | North Carolina | #403 | 238 |
Weakest boys-name states
| # | State | Avg rank | Births |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Minnesota | #795 | 18 |
| 2 | California | #766 | 313 |
| 3 | Indiana | #743 | 75 |
| 4 | Washington | #731 | 55 |
| 5 | Oklahoma | #723 | 22 |
| 6 | Kentucky | #690 | 27 |
| 7 | Colorado | #690 | 44 |
| 8 | Wisconsin | #643 | 47 |
| 9 | Arizona | #625 | 91 |
| 10 | Texas | #609 | 437 |
Source: SSA state-level baby-name dataset 2016–2025. States with fewer than 3 years of data for Omari in this window are excluded. Births < 5 in a given state-year are suppressed by SSA for privacy.
Looking for names like Omari?
A dedicated page with 60+ related names — spelling variants, rhymes, alliterations, same-origin matches, and shared meaning concepts — lives at its own URL so each kind of similarity gets a deeper treatment than fits here.
Compare Omari to Other Popular Names
Side-by-side popularity charts and crossover years for Omari against today's most popular boys-name peers (top 8 by US births in the last 10 years of SSA records).