Explore the Family Name Giri

The meaning of Giri

1. Italian (Marche): patronymic or plural form of the personal name Giro or Girio, the latter of unexplained etymology. 2. Indian: from the name of a religious order of Hindu Gosain, from Sanskrit giri ‘top of the hill’. The order is associated with the sacred Badrinath shrine in Uttarakhand state in northern India.

Dictionary of American Family Names, 2nd edition, © Oxford University Press, 2022.

How common is the last name Giri in the United States?

According to the Decennial U.S. Census, the surname Giri has grown significantly in popularity from 2000 to 2010. In 2000, Giri was ranked 65,298 and by 2010 it jumped to 29,793—a staggering increase of 54.37%. The number of individuals carrying the Giri surname also rose dramatically during this period. There were only 284 people with this surname in 2000 but by 2010, the count had increased by 177.82% to 789. The proportion of the Giri surname per 100,000 people doubled from 0.11 to 0.27.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#65,298	#29,793	54.37%
Count	284	789	177.82%
Proportion per 100k	0.11	0.27	145.45%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Giri

The Decennial U.S. Census also provides insights into the ethnicity of those bearing the Giri surname. In both 2000 and 2010, the majority of Giris identified as Asian/Pacific Islander, with an increase from 79.58% to 89.99%. While there was a noticeable decrease in the percentage of Giris identifying as White (from 12.32% to 6.21%) and those identifying with two or more ethnicities (from 5.28% to 2.92%), the percentages of Giris identifying as Hispanic, Black, American Indian and Alaskan Native remained static, registering at 0% in both years.

	2000	2010	Change
Asian/Pacific Islander	79.58%	89.99%	13.08%
White	12.32%	6.21%	-49.59%
Two or More Races	5.28%	2.92%	-44.7%
Hispanic	1.76%	0%	0%
Black	0%	0%	0%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0%	0%	0%