Kareem
Kareem was given to 383 boys in 2025, #702 among boys’ names; 18,359 Americans have been recorded with it since 1964 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 17,700 Americans named Kareem and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (96% of everyone recorded); the median is 26 years old and half are between 12 and 41.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Kareem by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Kareem mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Kareem is “a male given name from Arabic, variant of Karim.”
/kəˈɹiːm/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Kareem?
#702 among boys’ names, 2025
Kareem rose from #732 in 2015 to #702 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born rose from 0.17 to 0.22 per 1,000.
480 babies in 1980, the peak
Kareem peaked in 1980, when 480 babies were given it (459 boys, #373 among boys’ names). The 383 births of 2025 are 80% of that peak.
Births by sex.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 383 | #702 | 0.22 |
| 2024 | 405 | #675 | 0.24 |
| 2023 | 442 | #628 | 0.26 |
| 2022 | 407 | #671 | 0.23 |
| 2021 | 382 | #696 | 0.22 |
| 2020 | 419 | #639 | 0.24 |
| 2019 | 386 | #672 | 0.22 |
| 2018 | 347 | #698 | 0.19 |
| 2017 | 352 | #700 | 0.19 |
| 2016 | 345 | #709 | 0.18 |
Every recorded year (59)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 334 | #732 | 0.17 |
| 2014 | 315 | #751 | 0.16 |
| 2013 | 352 | #683 | 0.19 |
| 2012 | 311 | #745 | 0.16 |
| 2011 | 306 | #743 | 0.16 |
| 2010 | 334 | #700 | 0.17 |
| 2009 | 314 | #741 | 0.16 |
| 2008 | 309 | #739 | 0.15 |
| 2007 | 314 | #731 | 0.15 |
| 2006 | 303 | #714 | 0.15 |
| 2005 | 294 | #700 | 0.15 |
| 2004 | 346 | #619 | 0.17 |
| 2003 | 299 | #664 | 0.15 |
| 2002 | 316 | #624 | 0.16 |
| 2001 | 324 | #606 | 0.17 |
| 2000 | 303 | #620 | 0.15 |
| 1999 | 300 | #609 | 0.16 |
| 1998 | 313 | #595 | 0.16 |
| 1997 | 295 | #600 | 0.16 |
| 1996 | 301 | #596 | 0.16 |
| 1995 | 293 | #600 | 0.15 |
| 1994 | 357 | #543 | 0.18 |
| 1993 | 317 | #575 | 0.16 |
| 1992 | 348 | #548 | 0.17 |
| 1991 | 332 | #560 | 0.16 |
| 1990 | 312 | #572 | 0.15 |
| 1989 | 298 | #560 | 0.15 |
| 1988 | 289 | #541 | 0.15 |
| 1987 | 292 | #526 | 0.16 |
| 1986 | 254 | #560 | 0.14 |
| 1985 | 279 | #522 | 0.15 |
| 1984 | 246 | #553 | 0.14 |
| 1983 | 313 | #475 | 0.17 |
| 1982 | 319 | #473 | 0.18 |
| 1981 | 317 | #467 | 0.18 |
| 1980 | 459 | #373 | 0.26 |
| 1979 | 358 | #422 | 0.21 |
| 1978 | 361 | #408 | 0.22 |
| 1977 | 449 | #367 | 0.27 |
| 1976 | 380 | #398 | 0.24 |
| 1975 | 417 | #380 | 0.27 |
| 1974 | 326 | #438 | 0.21 |
| 1973 | 242 | #501 | 0.16 |
| 1972 | 378 | #405 | 0.23 |
| 1971 | 44 | #1,263 | 0.02 |
| 1970 | 12 | #2,796 | 0.01 |
| 1967 | 5 | #4,259 | under 0.01 |
| 1966 | 5 | #4,243 | under 0.01 |
| 1964 | 8 | #3,156 | under 0.01 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Kareem a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Of the 18,359 Americans recorded as Kareem, 1% are girls and 99% boys. In 2025 it went to 383 boys; SSA lists no girls with it that year (fewer than 5, or none).
Years with fewer than 20 babies given the name are left blank.
Girls and boys named Kareem: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Kareem, and how old are they?
17,700 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 96% of the 18,359 Americans ever recorded as Kareem. The median Kareem alive today is 26 years old; half are between 12 and 41.
The 2020 Census counted 13,237 people named Kareem (150 women and girls, 13,087 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 15,535 born in the U.S. The Census count is 15% below that prediction. Possible reasons: people who give a short form or another name to the Census, and a survival estimate that can run high.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 6 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 3,250 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 4,670 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 4,900 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 4,840 |
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 Kareem born?
The states with the most babies named Kareem are New York, Pennsylvania and California, with 41% of its births recorded by state since 1910.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| New York | 3,615 | #757 | 3.0× |
| Pennsylvania | 1,495 | #689 | 1.9× |
| California | 1,478 | #690 | 0.6× |
| New Jersey | 1,286 | #402 | 2.5× |
| Florida | 1,165 | #593 | 1.3× |
| Michigan | 891 | #335 | 1.4× |
| Illinois | 824 | #388 | 1.0× |
| Texas | 787 | #965 | 0.5× |
| Georgia | 706 | #575 | 1.3× |
| Virginia | 560 | #647 | 1.3× |
Where Kareem is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Kareem is most over-represented in New York: since 1964 it was given 3.0 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 boys’ 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 Kareem 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 7 names spelled alike, given to 27,871 babies since 1880, Kareem is the most given (66% of them). In 2025 it was given to 383 of their 704 babies (54%), again the most given.
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 Kareem
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 Kareem and names like it
- Compare Kareem and KarimBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1980sKareem peaked in 1980.
- New York’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Kareem since 1910.
- The top names of 1980The year the most babies were named Kareem.
- The names of Generation ZMost people named Kareem alive today were born 1997-2012.
- Names starting with KMost given first.