Variant of Kari or Carrie, possibly from Welsh 'caru' meaning love, or a diminutive of Carol.
Cari is a name that sits at the intersection of several traditions, borrowing warmth and meaning from multiple sources simultaneously. In Welsh, 'caru' means 'to love,' and Cari has been used as an independent Welsh name rooted in that tender meaning. It also functions as a variant spelling of Kari, a Scandinavian given name derived from Katherine — itself tracing back to the Greek Aikaterine, whose exact etymology remains debated but is popularly associated with 'katharos,' meaning pure.
In American usage Cari often appears simply as an alternate rendering of Carrie or Cary, names that swept into fashion in the mid-twentieth century. Carrie — the fuller form — carries one of the most iconic literary associations in American fiction: Carrie White, Stephen King's telekinetic protagonist in his debut novel 'Carrie' (1974), a portrait of adolescent rage and social cruelty so vivid it permanently colored the name's cultural atmosphere. The variant spelling Cari sidesteps that shadow while retaining all the name's breezy, friendly energy.
Earlier, Carrie Chapman Catt had given the name a banner of suffragist courage, and Cary Grant transformed a related masculine spelling into an emblem of effortless elegance. The spelling Cari gives the name a slightly more personal, handcrafted feel — a parent's small act of individuation. It remains less common than Carrie or Kari, which grants it an understated distinctiveness, and its Welsh meaning of 'to love' gives parents who know it a quietly beautiful etymological foundation.