Shari is of Hebrew origin, meaning 'song' or 'melody'. It is a unisex name but is more commonly used for girls. In the United States, it gained popularity in the 1970s and was particularly prevalent during the 1980s.
Shari was quite popular in the late 50s and early 60s, peaking with ten births in 1961. However, its popularity began to decline thereafter, with fewer than seven births each year from 1962 onwards. Despite this, Shari still managed to have a total of forty-six babies named after it across those years.