Karen
Karen was given to 175 girls in 2025, #1,281 among girls’ names; 990,774 Americans have been recorded with it since 1881 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 793,000 Americans named Karen and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (80% of everyone recorded); the median is 65 years old and half are between 58 and 72.
Karen is the #13 most common first name among living American women and girls, by this estimate.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Karen by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Karen mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Karen is “a female given name from Danish.”
Also “a transliteration of the Armenian male given name Կարեն (Karen).”
From Danish Karen, a vernacular form of Catherine that arose in medieval Denmark. The sense “middle-aged woman” comes from the popularity of the name among baby boomers and Gen-Xers. The derogatory usage was popularized via African-American Vernacular English.
/ˈkæɹən/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Karen?
#1,281 among girls’ names, 2025
Karen fell from #505 in 2015 to #1,281 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born fell from 0.35 to 0.11 per 1,000.
40,668 babies in 1957, the peak
Karen peaked in 1957, when 40,668 babies were given it (40,591 girls, #5 among girls’ names). The 175 births of 2025 are under 1% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 175 | #1,281 | 0.11 |
| 2024 | 186 | #1,255 | 0.11 |
| 2023 | 226 | #1,092 | 0.14 |
| 2022 | 199 | #1,218 | 0.12 |
| 2021 | 229 | #1,088 | 0.14 |
| 2020 | 332 | #821 | 0.21 |
| 2019 | 440 | #662 | 0.26 |
| 2018 | 470 | #637 | 0.28 |
| 2017 | 554 | #556 | 0.32 |
| 2016 | 617 | #508 | 0.35 |
Every recorded year (140)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 627 | #505 | 0.35 |
| 2014 | 633 | #494 | 0.35 |
| 2013 | 730 | #416 | 0.42 |
| 2012 | 897 | #354 | 0.51 |
| 2011 | 1,104 | #287 | 0.63 |
| 2010 | 1,288 | #248 | 0.72 |
| 2009 | 1,433 | #231 | 0.78 |
| 2008 | 1,816 | #187 | 1.0 |
| 2007 | 2,172 | #165 | 1.1 |
| 2006 | 2,031 | #173 | 1.1 |
| 2005 | 2,065 | #164 | 1.1 |
| 2004 | 2,168 | #155 | 1.2 |
| 2003 | 2,331 | #141 | 1.3 |
| 2002 | 2,225 | #150 | 1.2 |
| 2001 | 2,194 | #148 | 1.2 |
| 2000 | 2,174 | #153 | 1.2 |
| 1999 | 2,172 | #149 | 1.2 |
| 1998 | 2,073 | #152 | 1.2 |
| 1997 | 2,226 | #142 | 1.3 |
| 1996 | 2,401 | #133 | 1.4 |
| 1995 | 2,269 | #142 | 1.3 |
| 1994 | 2,487 | #128 | 1.4 |
| 1993 | 2,806 | #116 | 1.6 |
| 1992 | 2,765 | #121 | 1.5 |
| 1991 | 2,601 | #122 | 1.4 |
| 1990 | 2,716 | #120 | 1.4 |
| 1989 | 2,758 | #110 | 1.5 |
| 1988 | 2,567 | #111 | 1.4 |
| 1987 | 2,580 | #107 | 1.5 |
| 1986 | 2,801 | #100 | 1.6 |
| 1985 | 3,138 | #87 | 1.8 |
| 1984 | 3,536 | #82 | 2.1 |
| 1983 | 3,787 | #77 | 2.3 |
| 1982 | 4,153 | #68 | 2.5 |
| 1981 | 4,539 | #64 | 2.7 |
| 1980 | 5,055 | #54 | 3.0 |
| 1979 | 5,599 | #46 | 3.5 |
| 1978 | 6,371 | #39 | 4.2 |
| 1977 | 7,441 | #32 | 4.9 |
| 1976 | 7,505 | #31 | 5.1 |
| 1975 | 8,168 | #27 | 5.6 |
| 1974 | 8,643 | #26 | 5.9 |
| 1973 | 9,352 | #23 | 6.4 |
| 1972 | 11,181 | #21 | 7.3 |
| 1971 | 14,214 | #15 | 8.5 |
| 1970 | 16,699 | #12 | 9.6 |
| 1969 | 17,633 | #13 | 10.5 |
| 1968 | 19,560 | #9 | 11.9 |
| 1967 | 21,537 | #6 | 13.0 |
| 1966 | 25,450 | #5 | 15.0 |
| 1965 | 32,869 | #3 | 18.6 |
| 1964 | 30,243 | #4 | 16.0 |
| 1963 | 32,492 | #4 | 16.9 |
| 1962 | 35,184 | #4 | 17.9 |
| 1961 | 34,707 | #5 | 17.2 |
| 1960 | 36,378 | #4 | 18.0 |
| 1959 | 36,784 | #4 | 18.2 |
| 1958 | 38,487 | #4 | 19.1 |
| 1957 | 40,591 | #5 | 19.9 |
| 1956 | 40,052 | #7 | 19.9 |
| 1955 | 33,217 | #8 | 17.0 |
| 1954 | 32,456 | #8 | 16.7 |
| 1953 | 29,858 | #9 | 15.9 |
| 1952 | 28,956 | #8 | 15.6 |
| 1951 | 27,998 | #8 | 15.5 |
| 1950 | 24,132 | #12 | 14.1 |
| 1949 | 22,468 | #11 | 13.1 |
| 1948 | 21,996 | #12 | 13.0 |
| 1947 | 21,648 | #13 | 12.2 |
| 1946 | 19,647 | #15 | 12.5 |
| 1945 | 15,680 | #16 | 12.0 |
| 1944 | 15,944 | #16 | 12.0 |
| 1943 | 16,816 | #15 | 12.1 |
| 1942 | 15,387 | #16 | 11.4 |
| 1941 | 10,831 | #19 | 9.0 |
| 1940 | 7,283 | #34 | 6.4 |
| 1939 | 5,541 | #39 | 5.1 |
| 1938 | 4,508 | #50 | 4.1 |
| 1937 | 2,232 | #113 | 2.1 |
| 1936 | 1,718 | #132 | 1.7 |
| 1935 | 1,097 | #172 | 1.0 |
| 1934 | 588 | #258 | 0.56 |
| 1933 | 453 | #283 | 0.45 |
| 1932 | 303 | #367 | 0.28 |
| 1931 | 152 | #536 | 0.14 |
| 1930 | 100 | #689 | 0.09 |
| 1929 | 78 | #801 | 0.07 |
| 1928 | 78 | #818 | 0.07 |
| 1927 | 57 | #1,015 | 0.05 |
| 1926 | 62 | #953 | 0.05 |
| 1925 | 49 | #1,097 | 0.04 |
| 1924 | 58 | #1,008 | 0.05 |
| 1923 | 48 | #1,106 | 0.04 |
| 1922 | 50 | #1,084 | 0.04 |
| 1921 | 42 | #1,192 | 0.03 |
| 1920 | 42 | #1,179 | 0.04 |
| 1919 | 27 | #1,543 | 0.02 |
| 1918 | 56 | #964 | 0.05 |
| 1917 | 47 | #1,031 | 0.04 |
| 1916 | 42 | #1,093 | 0.04 |
| 1915 | 36 | #1,146 | 0.04 |
| 1914 | 34 | #1,029 | 0.04 |
| 1913 | 12 | #1,826 | 0.02 |
| 1912 | 28 | #966 | 0.05 |
| 1911 | 11 | #1,499 | 0.03 |
| 1910 | 11 | #1,473 | 0.03 |
| 1909 | 12 | #1,250 | 0.03 |
| 1908 | 13 | #1,168 | 0.04 |
| 1907 | 14 | #1,061 | 0.04 |
| 1906 | 16 | #940 | 0.05 |
| 1905 | 11 | #1,212 | 0.04 |
| 1904 | 11 | #1,137 | 0.04 |
| 1903 | 8 | #1,382 | 0.03 |
| 1901 | 5 | #1,805 | 0.02 |
| 1900 | 8 | #1,504 | 0.03 |
| 1899 | 9 | #1,142 | 0.04 |
| 1898 | 8 | #1,316 | 0.03 |
| 1897 | 5 | #1,662 | 0.02 |
| 1896 | 9 | #1,170 | 0.04 |
| 1894 | 11 | #978 | 0.05 |
| 1893 | 7 | #1,239 | 0.03 |
| 1892 | 10 | #984 | 0.05 |
| 1891 | 6 | #1,271 | 0.03 |
| 1890 | 14 | #747 | 0.07 |
| 1889 | 10 | #872 | 0.06 |
| 1888 | 5 | #1,380 | 0.03 |
| 1887 | 9 | #822 | 0.06 |
| 1886 | 9 | #802 | 0.06 |
| 1885 | 10 | #715 | 0.08 |
| 1881 | 6 | #786 | 0.07 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Karen a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Karen has been given almost only to girls: 2,785 boys in 140 years of records.
Girls and boys named Karen: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Karen, and how old are they?
793,000 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 80% of the 990,774 Americans ever recorded as Karen. The median Karen alive today is 65 years old; half are between 58 and 72.
The 2020 Census counted 882,576 people named Karen (880,756 women and girls, 1,820 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 851,454 born in the U.S. The Census count is 4% above that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 47,400 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 463,000 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 199,000 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 46,900 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 30,200 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 5,410 |
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 Karen born?
The states with the most babies named Karen are California, New York and Pennsylvania, with 25% of its births recorded by state since 1910.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 91,587 | #2,020 | 1.1× |
| New York | 88,625 | #1,004 | 1.1× |
| Pennsylvania | 66,002 | #788 | 1.1× |
| Illinois | 61,340 | #1,327 | 1.1× |
| Ohio | 60,620 | #841 | 1.1× |
| Michigan | 51,776 | #1,320 | 1.1× |
| Texas | 46,540 | #1,109 | 0.8× |
| New Jersey | 34,460 | #1,090 | 1.1× |
| Massachusetts | 34,162 | not ranked | 1.2× |
| Wisconsin | 28,223 | not ranked | 1.2× |
Where Karen is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Karen is most over-represented in Wisconsin: since 1910 it was given 1.2 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 Karen 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, Karen is the most given (92% of them). In 2025 it was given to 175 of their 220 babies (80%), 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 Karen
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 Karen and names like it
- Compare Karen and KarinBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1950sKaren peaked in 1957.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Karen since 1910.
- Danish namesWiktionary’s origin for Karen: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 1957The year the most babies were named Karen.
- The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Karen alive today were born 1946-1964.
- Names starting with KMost given first.