Karen
Pronounced K AA1 R EH1 N (ARPABET)
- 2 syllables
- Peaked 1957
- 144 years in use
- 10 spellings
How popular is Karen?
Karen is a girls' name, and first appears in 1881. It has been given to 1,068,955 children — the 13th most common girls' name on record.
It is falling away, down 73% on the previous decade. Its best single year was 1957, when 42,654 children were given it.
Ten other spellings are counted in that total — Karin, Karyn, Caryn and seven more — because they are pronounced identically.
Spelling variants
These spellings sound identical to Karen and are counted together with it, which is why the totals here are higher than a single-spelling count.
- Karin
- Karyn
- Caryn
- Caren
- Karon
- Carin
- Karan
- Kerin
- Charon
- Karenn
Characteristics
- 2 syllables
Phonetic detail
- Pronunciations:
- K AA1 R EH1 N · K AA1 R IH0 N · K AE1 R IH0 N · K AH1 R EH1 N · K EH1 R AH0 N · K EH1 R IH0 N · S IY1 EY1 R EH1 N
- Stress pattern:
- 11 · 10 · 10 · 11 · 10 · 10 · 111
- Syllables:
- 2
Stress digits mark unstressed (0), primary (1) and secondary (2) syllables.
Names like Karen
Same first letter and syllable count, peaking around the same time.
Sibling names for Karen
Names from the same era with a matching rhythm but a different initial.
Frequently asked questions
- How popular is the name Karen?
- Karen ranks 13th among girls' names in US records, with 1,068,955 births since 1881. Over the past decade it accounts for 4,251.
- Is Karen a unisex name?
- No. Karen is recorded almost entirely as a girls' name; births to the other gender are too few to register as a share.
- When was Karen most popular?
- 1957, when 42,654 children were given the name. It has been in use for 144 years and is still recorded as of 2024.
- How else is Karen spelled?
- Karin, Karyn, Caryn, Caren, Karon, Carin, Karan, Kerin, Charon, Karenn. All of these sound the same and are counted together in the totals on this page.