Karey
Karey was last recorded in 2015, when 5 babies were given it; 2,771 Americans have been recorded with it between 1937 and 2015 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 2,490 Americans named Karey and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (90% of everyone recorded); the median is 51 years old and half are between 45 and 59.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Karey by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
How popular is Karey?
Unranked in 2025
Its last girls’ rank on record is #17,774, in 2015; SSA lists a name only in years with 5 or more births.
133 babies in 1975, the peak
Karey peaked in 1975, when 133 babies were given it (119 girls, #1,015 among girls’ names). It was not recorded in 2025.
Births by sex.
| Year | Girls | Girls’ rank | Boys | Boys’ rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 5 | #17,774 | under 5 | |
| 2009 | under 5 | 5 | #13,488 | |
| 2008 | 5 | #18,947 | under 5 | |
| 2005 | 5 | #17,793 | under 5 | |
| 2004 | 6 | #15,059 | under 5 | |
| 2003 | 7 | #13,099 | under 5 | |
| 2002 | 6 | #14,475 | 6 | #10,045 |
| 2001 | 7 | #12,707 | under 5 | |
| 2000 | 6 | #14,002 | under 5 | |
| 1999 | 9 | #9,873 | 5 | #10,768 |
Every recorded year (68)
| Year | Girls | Girls’ rank | Boys | Boys’ rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1998 | 13 | #7,308 | under 5 | |
| 1997 | 9 | #9,390 | 5 | #10,030 |
| 1996 | 28 | #3,877 | 6 | #8,456 |
| 1995 | 10 | #8,379 | 7 | #7,380 |
| 1994 | 22 | #4,602 | 8 | #6,680 |
| 1993 | 18 | #5,311 | 10 | #5,566 |
| 1992 | 26 | #4,012 | 11 | #5,056 |
| 1991 | 15 | #6,079 | 12 | #4,619 |
| 1990 | 26 | #3,947 | 13 | #4,281 |
| 1989 | 24 | #4,059 | 11 | #4,662 |
| 1988 | 17 | #4,939 | 5 | #7,897 |
| 1987 | 20 | #4,182 | 12 | #3,855 |
| 1986 | 29 | #3,159 | 16 | #3,061 |
| 1985 | 21 | #3,910 | 10 | #4,201 |
| 1984 | 35 | #2,644 | 9 | #4,383 |
| 1983 | 43 | #2,250 | under 5 | |
| 1982 | 63 | #1,762 | 8 | #4,810 |
| 1981 | 57 | #1,896 | 16 | #2,832 |
| 1980 | 70 | #1,650 | 7 | #5,227 |
| 1979 | 58 | #1,842 | 8 | #4,628 |
| 1978 | 71 | #1,549 | 9 | #4,004 |
| 1977 | 115 | #1,113 | 7 | #4,863 |
| 1976 | 109 | #1,109 | 14 | #2,886 |
| 1975 | 119 | #1,015 | 14 | #2,831 |
| 1974 | 92 | #1,206 | 17 | #2,403 |
| 1973 | 88 | #1,214 | 11 | #3,121 |
| 1972 | 90 | #1,195 | 5 | #5,362 |
| 1971 | 80 | #1,340 | 9 | #3,522 |
| 1970 | 80 | #1,322 | 14 | #2,573 |
| 1969 | 56 | #1,600 | 18 | #2,014 |
| 1968 | 82 | #1,201 | 11 | #2,662 |
| 1967 | 62 | #1,408 | 15 | #2,083 |
| 1966 | 44 | #1,706 | 16 | #2,007 |
| 1965 | 35 | #1,964 | 11 | #2,547 |
| 1964 | 38 | #1,930 | 8 | #3,157 |
| 1963 | 32 | #2,108 | 16 | #2,078 |
| 1962 | 38 | #1,872 | 19 | #1,877 |
| 1961 | 35 | #1,973 | 20 | #1,846 |
| 1960 | 32 | #2,029 | 22 | #1,747 |
| 1959 | 36 | #1,866 | 15 | #2,159 |
| 1958 | 33 | #1,925 | 7 | #3,418 |
| 1957 | 27 | #2,135 | 11 | #2,561 |
| 1956 | 22 | #2,422 | 11 | #2,563 |
| 1955 | 21 | #2,435 | 14 | #2,182 |
| 1954 | 18 | #2,641 | 7 | #3,303 |
| 1953 | 7 | #4,795 | 10 | #2,622 |
| 1952 | 7 | #4,696 | 13 | #2,207 |
| 1951 | 14 | #2,866 | 8 | #2,951 |
| 1950 | 10 | #3,548 | 6 | #3,503 |
| 1949 | under 5 | 6 | #3,514 | |
| 1948 | 8 | #4,047 | 6 | #3,491 |
| 1947 | 5 | #5,693 | 8 | #2,990 |
| 1946 | 5 | #5,311 | 5 | #3,772 |
| 1945 | 5 | #4,892 | under 5 | |
| 1944 | 6 | #4,285 | under 5 | |
| 1943 | under 5 | 6 | #3,392 | |
| 1941 | 5 | #4,722 | under 5 | |
| 1937 | under 5 | 5 | #3,795 |
Ranks: girls’ names and boys’ names ranked separately in each year’s SSA file; “under 5” is a year SSA did not list the name for that sex.
Is Karey a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Of the 2,771 Americans recorded as Karey, 79% are girls and 21% boys.
Years with fewer than 20 babies given the name are left blank.
Girls and boys named Karey: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Karey, and how old are they?
2,490 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 90% of the 2,771 Americans ever recorded as Karey. The median Karey alive today is 51 years old; half are between 45 and 59.
The 2020 Census counted 2,585 people named Karey (2,128 women and girls, 457 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 2,568 born in the U.S. The Census count is 1% above that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 12 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 464 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 1,330 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 586 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 93 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 5 |
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 Karey born?
The states with the most babies named Karey are California, Ohio and Texas, with 54% of its births recorded by state since 1910.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 163 | not ranked | 0.6× |
| Ohio | 79 | not ranked | 0.6× |
| Texas | 64 | not ranked | 0.3× |
| Illinois | 48 | not ranked | 0.3× |
| Michigan | 43 | not ranked | 0.4× |
| Pennsylvania | 38 | not ranked | 0.3× |
| New York | 36 | not ranked | 0.2× |
| Indiana | 23 | not ranked | 0.3× |
| Florida | 22 | not ranked | 0.2× |
| Minnesota | 10 | not ranked | 0.2× |
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 Karey with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
How common is the spelling Karey?
Karey is a less common spelling of Carrie: SSA has recorded 2,771 Karey and 267,540 Carrie since 1880.
Of these 8 names spelled alike, given to 449,470 babies since 1880, Karey is the eighth most given (<1% of them). In 2025 none of their 423 babies recorded by SSA was a Karey (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 Karey
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 Karey and names like it
- Compare Karey and CarrieBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1970sKarey peaked in 1975.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Karey since 1910.
- The top names of 1975The year the most babies were named Karey.
- The names of Generation XMost people named Karey alive today were born 1965-1980.
- Names starting with KMost given first.