Explore the Family Name Mehari

The meaning of Mehari

Ethiopian and Eritrean: from the personal name Mehari, meaning e.g. ‘merciful’ in the Ge’ez, Amharic or related languages. — Note: Since Ethiopians and Eritreans do not have hereditary surnames, this name was registered as such only after immigration of its bearers to the US.

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

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

The surname Mehari has seen a substantial increase in popularity within the United States, according to data from the Decennial U.S. Census. In 2000, Mehari was ranked 78,838th and had 225 individuals with this last name. A decade later, in 2010, the rank shot up to 44,576th as the number of people sharing this surname nearly doubled to 482. This represents a dramatic change of 43.46% in rank and an impressive 114.22% growth in count. The proportion of people named Mehari per 100,000 also doubled from 0.08 to 0.16.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#78,838	#44,576	43.46%
Count	225	482	114.22%
Proportion per 100k	0.08	0.16	100%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Mehari

When it comes to the ethnic identity linked to the Mehari surname, the Decennial U.S. Census reveals some shifts between 2000 and 2010. The most notable is the increase in individuals identifying as Black, which rose from 84.44% to 95.64%. There were also minor increases in those identifying as Asian/Pacific Islander and White, both starting from zero in 2000 to 1.45% and 1.04% respectively in 2010. However, the percentage of people with the Mehari surname who identified with two or more races decreased significantly, dropping from 13.33% to 1.45%. The percentages for Hispanic and American Indian and Alaskan Native identities remained unchanged at zero.

	2000	2010	Change
Black	84.44%	95.64%	13.26%
Asian/Pacific Islander	0%	1.45%	0%
Two or More Races	13.33%	1.45%	-89.12%
White	0%	1.04%	0%
Hispanic	0%	0%	0%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0%	0%	0%