Nuri comes from the Arabic nur and means "my light"; the same name is masculine in Turkish and Arabic, while Americans mostly give it to girls. In Korean, Nuri is a separate word meaning "world", which adds to the name's cross-cultural appeal. Nuri jumped from number 5983 in 2017 to a peak of 1120 in 2019, then settled back, and ranks 2189 in 2025 with 85 girls given the name.