girl's name
Karen
KAIR-en
- Origin Danish
- Gender Girl
- Syllables 2
- Letters 5
- Popularity Uncommon
- Births on record 1,029,887
Northern Ireland
#556
2010 births
Karen is a girl's name, the Danish form of Katherine, and it inherits that name's genuinely unknown meaning. Its use collapsed after 2010 as the name became internet shorthand for a type of behavior — one of the clearest examples we hold of a meaning attaching to a name from outside it.
- Karen is a name of Danish origin.
- Peaked in 1957, when 40,668 babies were given the name.
- It has been falling over the past decade.
- Today about 1 in 18,945 babies in the United States is given this name.
- First appears in US birth records in 1881.
- 2 syllables, with the stress on syllable 1.
Karen over time
Births per decade in the United States, 1880s to 2020s. The striped bar is the 2020s, still in progress — it covers 2020 to 2025, not a full ten years.
Show the numbers
| Decade | Births |
|---|---|
| 1880s | 49 |
| 1890s | 79 |
| 1900s | 98 |
| 1910s | 304 |
| 1920s | 564 |
| 1930s | 16,760 |
| 1940s | 168,154 |
| 1950s | 333,094 |
| 1960s | 286,775 |
| 1970s | 95,549 |
| 1980s | 35,186 |
| 1990s | 24,694 |
| 2000s | 20,712 |
| 2010s | 7,398 |
| 2020s (to 2025) | 1,358 |
What Karen means
Karen has no securely known meaning, because Katherine does not. The commonly given reading of pure comes from a later folk association rather than from the name's actual source.
Where Karen comes from
Karen is the Danish short form of Katherine, which descends from the Greek Aikaterine — a name whose origin is lost. The reading pure attached to Katherine centuries after it existed, through an association with the Greek katharos, so Karen inherits a meaning that was never the original one. Danish and Norwegian use carried it to America with Scandinavian emigration in the nineteenth century, and it became thoroughly American in the twentieth. Since around 2016 the name has been used online as a label for a particular kind of entitled public complaint, an association with no connection whatever to the name's history, and one that has measurably affected its use.
Karen in use
Karen peaked in the United States in 1957, when 40,668 babies were registered, and is falling in our data. It now ranks 1284th in the United States on 175 births, 2600th in England and Wales and 7399th in France. The decline predates the internet usage — the name had been falling since the 1970s — but the fall through the 2010s is steeper than the preceding trend, which is visible in our year-by-year series in a way a decade summary would smooth away.
How popular is Karen?
In 2025, Karen was given to 175 babies in the United States. It is used consistently but remains uncommon.
Where Karen is used
US figures omit any name given to fewer than five babies in a year, so the rarest names are absent from the source rather than absent from use. Data & sources.
Names that peaked alongside Karen
These names rose and fell in the same era, which is why they tend to sound like they belong together.
Parents who like Karen also like
Names whose popularity has risen and fallen in step with Karen over the last century — the same taste, a different name.
1 nickname for Karen
Each one is a name in its own right — the figure underneath is how it is doing today, so you can see which short forms are rising and which have faded.
Karen in other languages
The same name as it is spelled elsewhere — not shortenings, and not different names that merely sound alike. Each one has its own record here.
Sibling names for Karen
Names from the same era that won't rhyme or share an initial with Karen — the two things that make a sibling set grate.
Common questions about Karen
What does the name Karen mean?
Not securely known. It is the Danish form of Katherine, whose own meaning is lost — the usual answer, pure, is a later association.
Is Karen short for Katherine?
Yes, it began as the Danish short form, and has been used independently for well over a century.
Why has Karen declined?
It had been falling since the 1970s, but our year-by-year data shows the drop steepening through the 2010s alongside the name's use as internet shorthand.
How popular is Karen?
1284th in the United States, down from a 1957 peak of 40,668 births.
Is Karen a girl's or a boy's name?
Karen is given almost entirely to girls in birth records.
How many syllables are in Karen?
Karen has 2 syllables.
What are the nicknames for Karen?
Karen is usually shortened to Kaz.
Is Karen a good name?
That is not something records can settle, but they can tell you what you would be choosing. Karen currently ranks #1,284 in the United States. It has been falling over the past decade. Everything else — how it sounds with your surname, who it reminds you of — is yours.