Karma
Karma is given to both girls and boys: 120 girls and 15 boys were given it in 2025 (#1,706 among girls’ names and #5,996 among boys’, #2,890 among all names counting both); 7,863 Americans have been recorded with it since 1915 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 7,280 Americans named Karma and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (93% of everyone recorded); the median is 17 years old and half are between 10 and 24.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Karma by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Karma mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Karma is “a female given name.”
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Karma?
#1,706 among girls’ names, 2025
Karma fell from #1,179 in 2015 to #1,706 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born fell from 0.12 to 0.07 per 1,000.
386 babies in 2009, the peak
Karma peaked in 2009, when 386 babies were given it (375 girls, #761 among girls’ names). The 135 births of 2025 (girls and boys) are 35% of that peak.
Births by sex.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 120 | #1,706 | 0.07 |
| 2024 | 150 | #1,459 | 0.09 |
| 2023 | 199 | #1,203 | 0.12 |
| 2022 | 177 | #1,331 | 0.11 |
| 2021 | 174 | #1,301 | 0.11 |
| 2020 | 196 | #1,184 | 0.12 |
| 2019 | 194 | #1,205 | 0.12 |
| 2018 | 191 | #1,225 | 0.11 |
| 2017 | 210 | #1,176 | 0.12 |
| 2016 | 204 | #1,210 | 0.12 |
Every recorded year (108)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 214 | #1,179 | 0.12 |
| 2014 | 254 | #1,028 | 0.14 |
| 2013 | 263 | #960 | 0.15 |
| 2012 | 291 | #901 | 0.17 |
| 2011 | 258 | #988 | 0.15 |
| 2010 | 297 | #893 | 0.17 |
| 2009 | 375 | #761 | 0.20 |
| 2008 | 333 | #845 | 0.18 |
| 2007 | 325 | #862 | 0.17 |
| 2006 | 313 | #855 | 0.16 |
| 2005 | 298 | #850 | 0.16 |
| 2004 | 94 | #1,976 | 0.05 |
| 2003 | 58 | #2,718 | 0.03 |
| 2002 | 61 | #2,561 | 0.03 |
| 2001 | 71 | #2,270 | 0.04 |
| 2000 | 56 | #2,647 | 0.03 |
| 1999 | 40 | #3,209 | 0.02 |
| 1998 | 33 | #3,599 | 0.02 |
| 1997 | 30 | #3,752 | 0.02 |
| 1996 | 10 | #8,469 | 0.01 |
| 1995 | 12 | #7,270 | 0.01 |
| 1994 | 23 | #4,429 | 0.01 |
| 1993 | 15 | #6,088 | 0.01 |
| 1992 | 15 | #6,141 | 0.01 |
| 1990 | 8 | #9,669 | under 0.01 |
| 1989 | 15 | #5,666 | 0.01 |
| 1988 | 14 | #5,735 | 0.01 |
| 1987 | 13 | #5,745 | 0.01 |
| 1986 | 14 | #5,300 | 0.01 |
| 1985 | 15 | #4,952 | 0.01 |
| 1984 | 26 | #3,273 | 0.02 |
| 1983 | 40 | #2,370 | 0.02 |
| 1982 | 18 | #4,240 | 0.01 |
| 1981 | 34 | #2,684 | 0.02 |
| 1980 | 31 | #2,903 | 0.02 |
| 1979 | 40 | #2,358 | 0.02 |
| 1978 | 39 | #2,329 | 0.03 |
| 1977 | 47 | #2,044 | 0.03 |
| 1976 | 48 | #1,892 | 0.03 |
| 1975 | 47 | #1,922 | 0.03 |
| 1974 | 71 | #1,432 | 0.05 |
| 1973 | 78 | #1,308 | 0.05 |
| 1972 | 65 | #1,479 | 0.04 |
| 1971 | 77 | #1,383 | 0.05 |
| 1970 | 66 | #1,510 | 0.04 |
| 1969 | 30 | #2,375 | 0.02 |
| 1968 | 33 | #2,105 | 0.02 |
| 1967 | 30 | #2,189 | 0.02 |
| 1966 | 31 | #2,123 | 0.02 |
| 1965 | 35 | #1,965 | 0.02 |
| 1964 | 29 | #2,268 | 0.02 |
| 1963 | 40 | #1,848 | 0.02 |
| 1962 | 42 | #1,769 | 0.02 |
| 1961 | 40 | #1,820 | 0.02 |
| 1960 | 26 | #2,334 | 0.01 |
| 1959 | 47 | #1,588 | 0.02 |
| 1958 | 54 | #1,455 | 0.03 |
| 1957 | 50 | #1,515 | 0.02 |
| 1956 | 34 | #1,848 | 0.02 |
| 1955 | 31 | #1,926 | 0.02 |
| 1954 | 24 | #2,207 | 0.01 |
| 1953 | 37 | #1,629 | 0.02 |
| 1952 | 24 | #2,097 | 0.01 |
| 1951 | 16 | #2,630 | 0.01 |
| 1950 | 27 | #1,854 | 0.02 |
| 1949 | 31 | #1,720 | 0.02 |
| 1948 | 24 | #1,979 | 0.01 |
| 1947 | 21 | #2,166 | 0.01 |
| 1946 | 33 | #1,541 | 0.02 |
| 1945 | 16 | #2,191 | 0.01 |
| 1944 | 26 | #1,636 | 0.02 |
| 1943 | 24 | #1,766 | 0.02 |
| 1942 | 20 | #1,946 | 0.01 |
| 1941 | 14 | #2,317 | 0.01 |
| 1940 | 23 | #1,661 | 0.02 |
| 1939 | 23 | #1,611 | 0.02 |
| 1938 | 24 | #1,573 | 0.02 |
| 1937 | 18 | #1,875 | 0.02 |
| 1936 | 19 | #1,771 | 0.02 |
| 1935 | 13 | #2,368 | 0.01 |
| 1934 | 18 | #1,871 | 0.02 |
| 1933 | 18 | #1,874 | 0.02 |
| 1932 | 19 | #1,842 | 0.02 |
| 1931 | 21 | #1,711 | 0.02 |
| 1930 | 12 | #2,607 | 0.01 |
| 1929 | 11 | #2,830 | 0.01 |
| 1928 | 23 | #1,752 | 0.02 |
| 1927 | 9 | #3,422 | 0.01 |
| 1926 | 7 | #4,076 | 0.01 |
| 1925 | 15 | #2,435 | 0.01 |
| 1924 | 7 | #4,214 | 0.01 |
| 1923 | 8 | #3,797 | 0.01 |
| 1922 | 16 | #2,342 | 0.01 |
| 1921 | 8 | #3,844 | 0.01 |
| 1920 | 9 | #3,466 | 0.01 |
| 1919 | 11 | #2,898 | 0.01 |
| 1917 | 6 | #4,348 | 0.01 |
| 1915 | 6 | #4,011 | 0.01 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Karma a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Of the 7,863 Americans recorded as Karma, 97% are girls and 3% boys.
Years with fewer than 20 babies given the name are left blank.
Girls and boys named Karma: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Karma, and how old are they?
7,280 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 93% of the 7,863 Americans ever recorded as Karma. The median Karma alive today is 17 years old; half are between 10 and 24.
The 2020 Census counted 6,155 people named Karma (5,532 women and girls, 623 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 6,357 born in the U.S. The Census count is 3% below that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 106 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 495 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 714 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 264 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 2,990 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 2,720 |
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 Karma born?
The states with the most babies named Karma are New York, Texas and Ohio, with 45% of its births recorded by state in 2025.
| State | Births 2025 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| New York | 16 | #1,274 | 0.5× |
| Texas | 11 | #1,974 | 0.6× |
| Ohio | 8 | #1,082 | 0.9× |
| Virginia | 8 | #891 | 0.5× |
| Florida | 7 | #1,778 | 0.7× |
| California | 6 | #2,932 | 0.5× |
| Michigan | 6 | #1,139 | 0.5× |
| Georgia | 5 | #1,663 | 0.9× |
| Washington | 5 | #1,140 | 0.7× |
| South Carolina | 5 | #851 | 0.6× |
Where Karma is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Karma is most over-represented in Utah: since 1915 it was given 2.7 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 Karma 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 20,147 babies since 1880, Karma is the most given (39% of them). In 2025 it was given to 135 of their 231 babies (58%), 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 Karma
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 Karma and names like it
- Compare Karma and CarmaBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 2000sKarma peaked in 2009.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Karma since 1910.
- The top names of 2009The year the most babies were named Karma.
- The names of Generation ZMost people named Karma alive today were born 1997-2012.
- Names starting with KMost given first.