Imani
- Pronunciation
- [I-ma-ni]
- Gender
- Female
- Meaning
- Faith (One Of The Seven Principles Of Kwanzaa)
- Origin
- English
About the Name Imani
Imani descends from the Swahili imani meaning "faith" — referring to one of the seven principles of Kwanzaa, the African-American cultural celebration created by Maulana Karenga in 1966 (the seven principles include Umoja "unity," Kujichagulia "self-determination," Ujima "collective work," Ujamaa "cooperative economics," Nia "purpose," Kuumba "creativity," and Imani "faith"). The Imani principle, celebrated on the seventh day of Kwanzaa (January 1), specifically refers to faith in the African-American community and its leadership.
Notable bearers include American actress Imani Hakim (born 1993, the American actress of CBS's Everybody Hates Chris); American basketball player Imani McDonald; and the contemporary fictional Imani of various contemporary novels.
The name's transition from cultural concept to American first name accelerated through the 1990s and 2000s, riding the broader American taste for African-derived girls' names alongside Aaliyah, Aisha, and Amari. Imani's American climb has been substantial: the name climbed from outside the US top 500 in 1990 to the US top 300 girls' rank by 2014 and the top 300 since. The name has been driven primarily by African-American naming. The name's appeal sits in three contemporary American naming preferences: the African-Swahili heritage with the in-built faith etymological register, the strong Kwanzaa cultural anchor, and the popular three-syllable -ani ending family. Three flowing syllables, soft consonants, and tonal warmth distinctive to multi-cultural names. The name reads as distinctly contemporary American. Common nicknames Imi (the dominant short form, casual and warm), Mani (back-end shortening), and the rare Ima each carry distinct registers; the alternate spellings Imani, Imany, and Eemani have their own SSA tracking. International forms include the original Swahili imani.
Source: U.S. Social Security Administration name data, 1880–2024 (methodology). By Marvin Tang.
Quick Facts About Imani
US Popularity History (2000–2025)
Annual US births named Imani by gender, from US Social Security Administration records. Peak year: 2000 with 1,051 girls named Imani (girl rank #304 that year).
Where it stands today: in 2025, ranked #579 for girls (512 US births). That's 275 places below its 2000 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.
Paste the snippet below on any HTML page. Includes a credit link back to 9BabyNames — please keep it intact.
Where in the US Is Imani Most Popular?
Average girl-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 girls-name rankings — a per-capita measure that isn't biased toward large states. For Imani the strongest states are District of Columbia, Georgia, Louisiana.
Strongest girls-name states
| # | State | Avg rank | Births |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | District of Columbia | #211 | 18 |
| 2 | Georgia | #279 | 358 |
| 3 | Louisiana | #306 | 153 |
| 4 | Mississippi | #324 | 92 |
| 5 | South Carolina | #361 | 137 |
| 6 | Alabama | #370 | 115 |
| 7 | North Carolina | #377 | 261 |
| 8 | Florida | #383 | 442 |
| 9 | Maryland | #393 | 144 |
| 10 | Nevada | #400 | 60 |
Weakest girls-name states
| # | State | Avg rank | Births |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | California | #811 | 367 |
| 2 | Minnesota | #779 | 38 |
| 3 | Kentucky | #759 | 21 |
| 4 | Colorado | #662 | 48 |
| 5 | Massachusetts | #657 | 72 |
| 6 | Washington | #646 | 79 |
| 7 | Missouri | #645 | 74 |
| 8 | Michigan | #635 | 121 |
| 9 | Indiana | #621 | 100 |
| 10 | Wisconsin | #613 | 69 |
Source: SSA state-level baby-name dataset 2016–2025. States with fewer than 3 years of data for Imani in this window are excluded. Births < 5 in a given state-year are suppressed by SSA for privacy.
Looking for names like Imani?
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 Imani to Other Popular Names
Side-by-side popularity charts and crossover years for Imani against today's most popular girls-name peers (top 8 by US births in the last 10 years of SSA records).
Imani Baby Name Ideas
- Popular Black Baby Names: Rich in Meaning and Legacy
- Swahili Baby Names: Meaningful and Beautiful Names for Your Child
- Names for Girls with Curly Hair: Embracing the Beauty of Curls
- 50 Beautiful Baby Names Inspired By Snow
- 100 Unique And Exotic Girl Names For Your Pretty Daughters
- Top 1000 Most Popular Girl Names In U.S. Of 2015