Caryn
Caryn was last recorded in 2019, when 5 babies were given it; 12,182 Americans have been recorded with it between 1939 and 2019 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 10,800 Americans named Caryn and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (89% of everyone recorded); the median is 55 years old and half are between 46 and 64.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Caryn by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Caryn mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Caryn is “a female given name from Ancient Greek.”
A 20th-century spelling variant of Karen.
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Caryn?
Unranked in 2025
Its last girls’ rank on record is #16,003, in 2019; SSA lists a name only in years with 5 or more births.
492 babies in 1965, the peak
Caryn peaked in 1965, when 492 girls were given it, #421 among girls’ names. It was not recorded in 2025.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 5 | #16,003 | under 0.01 |
| 2017 | 8 | #11,865 | under 0.01 |
| 2016 | 12 | #8,998 | 0.01 |
| 2015 | 8 | #12,053 | under 0.01 |
| 2014 | 6 | #14,946 | under 0.01 |
| 2013 | 17 | #7,111 | 0.01 |
| 2012 | 13 | #8,720 | 0.01 |
| 2011 | 18 | #6,907 | 0.01 |
| 2010 | 12 | #9,345 | 0.01 |
| 2009 | 14 | #8,528 | 0.01 |
Every recorded year (80)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 16 | #7,816 | 0.01 |
| 2007 | 18 | #7,139 | 0.01 |
| 2006 | 15 | #7,946 | 0.01 |
| 2005 | 33 | #4,202 | 0.02 |
| 2004 | 33 | #4,184 | 0.02 |
| 2003 | 34 | #3,956 | 0.02 |
| 2002 | 27 | #4,517 | 0.02 |
| 2001 | 34 | #3,794 | 0.02 |
| 2000 | 42 | #3,219 | 0.02 |
| 1999 | 32 | #3,724 | 0.02 |
| 1998 | 54 | #2,533 | 0.03 |
| 1997 | 56 | #2,359 | 0.03 |
| 1996 | 59 | #2,253 | 0.03 |
| 1995 | 57 | #2,308 | 0.03 |
| 1994 | 90 | #1,659 | 0.05 |
| 1993 | 80 | #1,813 | 0.04 |
| 1992 | 82 | #1,772 | 0.04 |
| 1991 | 121 | #1,350 | 0.06 |
| 1990 | 118 | #1,343 | 0.06 |
| 1989 | 133 | #1,211 | 0.07 |
| 1988 | 223 | #817 | 0.13 |
| 1987 | 196 | #866 | 0.11 |
| 1986 | 195 | #851 | 0.11 |
| 1985 | 154 | #988 | 0.09 |
| 1984 | 145 | #997 | 0.09 |
| 1983 | 156 | #948 | 0.09 |
| 1982 | 186 | #840 | 0.11 |
| 1981 | 234 | #712 | 0.14 |
| 1980 | 252 | #687 | 0.15 |
| 1979 | 259 | #670 | 0.16 |
| 1978 | 362 | #515 | 0.24 |
| 1977 | 311 | #564 | 0.20 |
| 1976 | 280 | #584 | 0.19 |
| 1975 | 269 | #598 | 0.18 |
| 1974 | 284 | #566 | 0.19 |
| 1973 | 295 | #557 | 0.20 |
| 1972 | 281 | #581 | 0.18 |
| 1971 | 368 | #510 | 0.22 |
| 1970 | 362 | #527 | 0.21 |
| 1969 | 373 | #505 | 0.22 |
| 1968 | 319 | #537 | 0.19 |
| 1967 | 274 | #573 | 0.17 |
| 1966 | 387 | #477 | 0.23 |
| 1965 | 492 | #421 | 0.28 |
| 1964 | 344 | #529 | 0.18 |
| 1963 | 294 | #572 | 0.15 |
| 1962 | 289 | #582 | 0.15 |
| 1961 | 312 | #563 | 0.15 |
| 1960 | 267 | #614 | 0.13 |
| 1959 | 308 | #555 | 0.15 |
| 1958 | 279 | #594 | 0.14 |
| 1957 | 255 | #611 | 0.12 |
| 1956 | 259 | #583 | 0.13 |
| 1955 | 206 | #651 | 0.11 |
| 1954 | 219 | #612 | 0.11 |
| 1953 | 189 | #651 | 0.10 |
| 1952 | 197 | #626 | 0.11 |
| 1951 | 181 | #647 | 0.10 |
| 1950 | 172 | #649 | 0.10 |
| 1949 | 153 | #674 | 0.09 |
| 1948 | 97 | #880 | 0.06 |
| 1947 | 74 | #1,030 | 0.04 |
| 1946 | 45 | #1,292 | 0.03 |
| 1945 | 27 | #1,596 | 0.02 |
| 1944 | 24 | #1,703 | 0.02 |
| 1943 | 24 | #1,754 | 0.02 |
| 1942 | 32 | #1,448 | 0.02 |
| 1941 | 13 | #2,417 | 0.01 |
| 1940 | 12 | #2,442 | 0.01 |
| 1939 | 6 | #3,822 | 0.01 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Caryn a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Caryn has been recorded only for girls: SSA lists no boys with the name in 80 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Caryn: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Caryn, and how old are they?
10,800 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 89% of the 12,182 Americans ever recorded as Caryn. The median Caryn alive today is 55 years old; half are between 46 and 64.
The 2020 Census counted 11,223 people named Caryn (11,214 women and girls, 9 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 11,235 born in the U.S. The Census count matches that prediction to within 1%.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 70 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 3,320 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 4,780 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 2,160 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 446 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 56 |
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 Caryn born?
The states with the most babies named Caryn are New York, California and Illinois, with 49% of its births recorded by state since 1910.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| New York | 1,877 | not ranked | 1.9× |
| California | 1,321 | not ranked | 1.1× |
| Illinois | 1,316 | not ranked | 2.0× |
| Pennsylvania | 560 | not ranked | 0.8× |
| New Jersey | 522 | not ranked | 1.4× |
| Michigan | 502 | not ranked | 0.9× |
| Texas | 447 | not ranked | 0.5× |
| Ohio | 415 | not ranked | 0.7× |
| Massachusetts | 388 | not ranked | 1.2× |
| Florida | 282 | not ranked | 0.7× |
Where Caryn is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Caryn is most over-represented in Illinois: since 1939 it was given 2.0 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 Caryn 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, Caryn is the fourth most given (1.1% of them). In 2025 none of their 220 babies recorded by SSA was a Caryn (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 Caryn
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 Caryn and names like it
- Compare Caryn and KarenBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1960sCaryn peaked in 1965.
- New York’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Caryn since 1910.
- Ancient Greek namesWiktionary’s origin for Caryn: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 1965The year the most babies were named Caryn.
- The names of Generation XMost people named Caryn alive today were born 1965-1980.
- Names starting with CMost given first.