Karyn
Karyn was last recorded in 2024, when 7 babies were given it; 14,140 Americans have been recorded with it between 1932 and 2024 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 12,500 Americans named Karyn and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (88% of everyone recorded); the median is 56 years old and half are between 46 and 63.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Karyn by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Karyn mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Karyn 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 Karyn?
Unranked in 2025
Its last girls’ rank on record is #12,778, in 2024; SSA lists a name only in years with 5 or more births.
607 babies in 1964, the peak
Karyn peaked in 1964, when 607 girls were given it, #395 among girls’ names. It was not recorded in 2025.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 7 | #12,778 | under 0.01 |
| 2020 | 10 | #9,896 | 0.01 |
| 2019 | 13 | #8,358 | 0.01 |
| 2018 | 12 | #8,888 | 0.01 |
| 2017 | 23 | #5,581 | 0.01 |
| 2016 | 19 | #6,539 | 0.01 |
| 2015 | 10 | #10,486 | 0.01 |
| 2014 | 17 | #7,145 | 0.01 |
| 2013 | 17 | #7,206 | 0.01 |
| 2012 | 24 | #5,631 | 0.01 |
Every recorded year (86)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 23 | #5,832 | 0.01 |
| 2010 | 27 | #5,169 | 0.02 |
| 2009 | 38 | #4,056 | 0.02 |
| 2008 | 36 | #4,315 | 0.02 |
| 2007 | 27 | #5,301 | 0.01 |
| 2006 | 43 | #3,649 | 0.02 |
| 2005 | 35 | #4,065 | 0.02 |
| 2004 | 42 | #3,528 | 0.02 |
| 2003 | 42 | #3,438 | 0.02 |
| 2002 | 47 | #3,080 | 0.03 |
| 2001 | 46 | #3,069 | 0.03 |
| 2000 | 68 | #2,291 | 0.04 |
| 1999 | 58 | #2,483 | 0.03 |
| 1998 | 73 | #2,031 | 0.04 |
| 1997 | 62 | #2,208 | 0.04 |
| 1996 | 67 | #2,070 | 0.04 |
| 1995 | 80 | #1,791 | 0.05 |
| 1994 | 104 | #1,503 | 0.06 |
| 1993 | 104 | #1,510 | 0.06 |
| 1992 | 119 | #1,383 | 0.06 |
| 1991 | 127 | #1,305 | 0.07 |
| 1990 | 145 | #1,177 | 0.08 |
| 1989 | 166 | #1,033 | 0.09 |
| 1988 | 144 | #1,092 | 0.08 |
| 1987 | 148 | #1,045 | 0.09 |
| 1986 | 130 | #1,120 | 0.08 |
| 1985 | 151 | #1,010 | 0.09 |
| 1984 | 123 | #1,120 | 0.07 |
| 1983 | 187 | #821 | 0.11 |
| 1982 | 167 | #909 | 0.10 |
| 1981 | 213 | #767 | 0.13 |
| 1980 | 281 | #652 | 0.17 |
| 1979 | 275 | #632 | 0.17 |
| 1978 | 307 | #565 | 0.20 |
| 1977 | 372 | #502 | 0.24 |
| 1976 | 329 | #533 | 0.22 |
| 1975 | 340 | #519 | 0.23 |
| 1974 | 342 | #508 | 0.23 |
| 1973 | 378 | #476 | 0.26 |
| 1972 | 384 | #471 | 0.25 |
| 1971 | 484 | #430 | 0.29 |
| 1970 | 460 | #459 | 0.26 |
| 1969 | 427 | #467 | 0.25 |
| 1968 | 463 | #442 | 0.28 |
| 1967 | 436 | #455 | 0.26 |
| 1966 | 417 | #465 | 0.25 |
| 1965 | 510 | #412 | 0.29 |
| 1964 | 607 | #395 | 0.32 |
| 1963 | 539 | #416 | 0.28 |
| 1962 | 415 | #475 | 0.21 |
| 1961 | 255 | #637 | 0.13 |
| 1960 | 242 | #651 | 0.12 |
| 1959 | 230 | #661 | 0.11 |
| 1958 | 221 | #665 | 0.11 |
| 1957 | 220 | #663 | 0.11 |
| 1956 | 208 | #665 | 0.10 |
| 1955 | 151 | #785 | 0.08 |
| 1954 | 156 | #739 | 0.08 |
| 1953 | 153 | #735 | 0.08 |
| 1952 | 138 | #758 | 0.07 |
| 1951 | 173 | #665 | 0.10 |
| 1950 | 206 | #585 | 0.12 |
| 1949 | 176 | #623 | 0.10 |
| 1948 | 176 | #622 | 0.10 |
| 1947 | 188 | #613 | 0.11 |
| 1946 | 99 | #830 | 0.06 |
| 1945 | 82 | #835 | 0.06 |
| 1944 | 64 | #976 | 0.05 |
| 1943 | 53 | #1,106 | 0.04 |
| 1942 | 71 | #934 | 0.05 |
| 1941 | 33 | #1,349 | 0.03 |
| 1940 | 25 | #1,567 | 0.02 |
| 1939 | 21 | #1,704 | 0.02 |
| 1938 | 19 | #1,837 | 0.02 |
| 1937 | 9 | #3,047 | 0.01 |
| 1932 | 6 | #4,159 | 0.01 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Karyn a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Karyn has been given almost only to girls: 5 boys in 86 years of records.
Girls and boys named Karyn: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Karyn, and how old are they?
12,500 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 88% of the 14,140 Americans ever recorded as Karyn. The median Karyn alive today is 56 years old; half are between 46 and 63.
The 2020 Census counted 14,141 people named Karyn (14,117 women and girls, 24 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 12,975 born in the U.S. The Census count is 9% above that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 188 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 3,650 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 5,740 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 2,120 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 683 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 127 |
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 Karyn born?
The states with the most babies named Karyn are California, New York and Illinois, with 42% of its births recorded by state since 1910.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 1,687 | not ranked | 1.2× |
| New York | 1,424 | not ranked | 1.2× |
| Illinois | 1,349 | not ranked | 1.8× |
| Michigan | 712 | not ranked | 1.1× |
| Massachusetts | 676 | not ranked | 1.7× |
| Pennsylvania | 663 | not ranked | 0.9× |
| Ohio | 589 | not ranked | 0.8× |
| Texas | 539 | not ranked | 0.6× |
| New Jersey | 517 | not ranked | 1.2× |
| Florida | 266 | not ranked | 0.6× |
Where Karyn is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Karyn is most over-represented in Illinois: since 1932 it was given 1.8 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 Karyn 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, Karyn is the third most given (1.3% of them). In 2025 none of their 220 babies recorded by SSA was a Karyn (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 Karyn
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 Karyn and names like it
- Compare Karyn and KarenBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1960sKaryn peaked in 1964.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Karyn since 1910.
- Ancient Greek namesWiktionary’s origin for Karyn: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 1964The year the most babies were named Karyn.
- The names of Generation XMost people named Karyn alive today were born 1965-1980.
- Names starting with KMost given first.