Caren
Caren was last recorded in 2019, when 6 babies were given it; 9,560 Americans have been recorded with it between 1925 and 2019 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 8,030 Americans named Caren and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (84% of everyone recorded); the median is 62 years old and half are between 49 and 70.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Caren by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Caren mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Caren is “a female given name from Ancient Greek, a less common spelling of Karen.”
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Caren?
Unranked in 2025
Its last girls’ rank on record is #14,153, in 2019; SSA lists a name only in years with 5 or more births.
387 babies in 1957, the peak
Caren peaked in 1957, when 387 girls were given it, #485 among girls’ names. It was not recorded in 2025.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 6 | #14,153 | under 0.01 |
| 2018 | 8 | #11,601 | under 0.01 |
| 2017 | 11 | #9,437 | 0.01 |
| 2016 | 14 | #8,071 | 0.01 |
| 2015 | 6 | #14,859 | under 0.01 |
| 2014 | 8 | #12,158 | under 0.01 |
| 2013 | 5 | #17,047 | under 0.01 |
| 2012 | 18 | #6,925 | 0.01 |
| 2011 | 22 | #5,978 | 0.01 |
| 2010 | 25 | #5,455 | 0.01 |
Every recorded year (85)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | 29 | #4,962 | 0.02 |
| 2008 | 33 | #4,561 | 0.02 |
| 2007 | 52 | #3,257 | 0.03 |
| 2006 | 55 | #3,059 | 0.03 |
| 2005 | 37 | #3,884 | 0.02 |
| 2004 | 44 | #3,397 | 0.02 |
| 2003 | 44 | #3,298 | 0.02 |
| 2002 | 41 | #3,343 | 0.02 |
| 2001 | 46 | #3,052 | 0.03 |
| 2000 | 47 | #2,980 | 0.03 |
| 1999 | 34 | #3,580 | 0.02 |
| 1998 | 40 | #3,125 | 0.02 |
| 1997 | 36 | #3,231 | 0.02 |
| 1996 | 50 | #2,511 | 0.03 |
| 1995 | 31 | #3,501 | 0.02 |
| 1994 | 53 | #2,411 | 0.03 |
| 1993 | 57 | #2,266 | 0.03 |
| 1992 | 37 | #3,091 | 0.02 |
| 1991 | 51 | #2,446 | 0.03 |
| 1990 | 61 | #2,126 | 0.03 |
| 1989 | 63 | #1,995 | 0.03 |
| 1988 | 53 | #2,153 | 0.03 |
| 1987 | 48 | #2,235 | 0.03 |
| 1986 | 58 | #1,911 | 0.03 |
| 1985 | 72 | #1,632 | 0.04 |
| 1984 | 73 | #1,553 | 0.04 |
| 1983 | 73 | #1,536 | 0.04 |
| 1982 | 76 | #1,554 | 0.04 |
| 1981 | 83 | #1,459 | 0.05 |
| 1980 | 100 | #1,276 | 0.06 |
| 1979 | 130 | #1,061 | 0.08 |
| 1978 | 163 | #892 | 0.11 |
| 1977 | 142 | #971 | 0.09 |
| 1976 | 117 | #1,047 | 0.08 |
| 1975 | 129 | #964 | 0.09 |
| 1974 | 201 | #717 | 0.14 |
| 1973 | 148 | #870 | 0.10 |
| 1972 | 112 | #1,039 | 0.07 |
| 1971 | 156 | #863 | 0.09 |
| 1970 | 172 | #803 | 0.10 |
| 1969 | 171 | #784 | 0.10 |
| 1968 | 202 | #685 | 0.12 |
| 1967 | 196 | #699 | 0.12 |
| 1966 | 241 | #612 | 0.14 |
| 1965 | 259 | #597 | 0.15 |
| 1964 | 270 | #608 | 0.14 |
| 1963 | 261 | #623 | 0.14 |
| 1962 | 279 | #596 | 0.14 |
| 1961 | 284 | #599 | 0.14 |
| 1960 | 288 | #583 | 0.14 |
| 1959 | 299 | #565 | 0.15 |
| 1958 | 280 | #592 | 0.14 |
| 1957 | 387 | #485 | 0.19 |
| 1956 | 302 | #536 | 0.15 |
| 1955 | 283 | #545 | 0.14 |
| 1954 | 290 | #521 | 0.15 |
| 1953 | 253 | #548 | 0.13 |
| 1952 | 191 | #641 | 0.10 |
| 1951 | 226 | #566 | 0.13 |
| 1950 | 171 | #651 | 0.10 |
| 1949 | 174 | #626 | 0.10 |
| 1948 | 204 | #583 | 0.12 |
| 1947 | 175 | #632 | 0.10 |
| 1946 | 153 | #640 | 0.10 |
| 1945 | 104 | #731 | 0.08 |
| 1944 | 103 | #755 | 0.08 |
| 1943 | 83 | #856 | 0.06 |
| 1942 | 95 | #782 | 0.07 |
| 1941 | 61 | #943 | 0.05 |
| 1940 | 49 | #1,024 | 0.04 |
| 1939 | 25 | #1,516 | 0.02 |
| 1938 | 13 | #2,350 | 0.01 |
| 1937 | 8 | #3,178 | 0.01 |
| 1936 | 5 | #4,275 | under 0.01 |
| 1925 | 5 | #5,077 | under 0.01 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Caren a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Caren has been recorded only for girls: SSA lists no boys with the name in 85 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Caren: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Caren, and how old are they?
8,030 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 84% of the 9,560 Americans ever recorded as Caren. The median Caren alive today is 62 years old; half are between 49 and 70.
The 2020 Census counted 9,317 people named Caren (9,254 women and girls, 63 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 8,495 born in the U.S. The Census count is 10% above that prediction. Possible reasons: the Census counts people born abroad, whom SSA’s files leave out, and it records the name people give, which SSA may have recorded under another spelling or as part of a compound name.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 272 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 3,760 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 2,440 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 912 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 596 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 58 |
An estimate, not a count. SSA’s files count people born in the United States who received a Social Security number, so anyone born abroad is not in them; before 1937 most people got a number as adults, and their survival is counted from that age.
Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).
Where are babies named Caren born?
The states with the most babies named Caren are California, New York and Texas, with 52% of its births recorded by state since 1910.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 1,365 | not ranked | 1.5× |
| New York | 1,325 | not ranked | 1.7× |
| Texas | 662 | not ranked | 1.0× |
| Pennsylvania | 429 | not ranked | 0.8× |
| New Jersey | 376 | not ranked | 1.3× |
| Ohio | 365 | not ranked | 0.7× |
| Illinois | 363 | not ranked | 0.7× |
| Michigan | 313 | not ranked | 0.7× |
| Massachusetts | 265 | not ranked | 1.0× |
| Florida | 180 | not ranked | 0.7× |
Where Caren is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Caren is most over-represented in New York: since 1925 it was given 1.7 times as often there as its national share each year would predict.
States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among girls’ names in the state in 2025. The file leaves out any state and year with fewer than 5 babies of the name, so small states are undercounted; each ratio compares the state’s births of Caren with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names spelled alike
Of these 8 names spelled alike, given to 1,074,356 babies since 1880, Caren is the fifth most given (<1% of them). In 2025 none of their 220 babies recorded by SSA was a Caren (SSA lists a name only with 5 or more babies of one sex).
Spelled alike: names in the SSA national file with the same pattern of letters and sounds and at most two letters apart, and Wiktionary’s listed forms; births since 1880 and in 2025, and each name’s peak year, from the SSA national file, published May 8, 2026. Some are separate names, not spellings of one.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Caren
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
More about Caren and names like it
- Compare Caren and KarenBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1950sCaren peaked in 1957.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Caren since 1910.
- The top names of 1957The year the most babies were named Caren.
- The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Caren alive today were born 1946-1964.
- Names starting with CMost given first.