A modern variant of Avery, ultimately from Germanic roots meaning elf ruler or wise counsel.
Avari draws from two fascinating and very different sources. R. Tolkien's intricate mythology, the Avari are the "Refusers" — the Elves who, when summoned by the Valar to journey to the Undying Lands, chose instead to remain in Middle-earth.
Tolkien derived the name from a reconstructed Elvish root meaning "unwilling" or "those who refused," but in the legendarium the Avari are not villains — they are simply the Elves who stayed, the keepers of the wild, the ones who belonged to the ordinary world. This gives the name a quietly defiant, grounded independence. The name also resonates with Sanskrit and Old Persian roots.
In Sanskrit, the prefix avara relates to "lower, western, the near side" — evocative of horizons and geographical depth. In Persian tradition, Avar relates to the historic Avar people, a powerful nomadic confederation that shaped early medieval Eurasia and left cultural traces from the Caucasus to Central Europe. The Avar khagan ruled one of the great steppe empires, and their name echoes through Eastern European history.
For modern parents, Avari reads as a sophisticated near-cousin of Avery — a name that has been broadly popular for girls — but with a more unusual, slightly otherworldly edge. The final "i" lifts it out of the mainstream. It suits a child imagined as spirited and independent, as someone who, like Tolkien's Elves, chose their own path and made the world around them richer for staying.