Carim
A name of Arabic origin meaning "generous" or "noble".
Name Census estimates that about 12 living Americans carry the first name Carim. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Carim today is around 3 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Carim births was 2023 (7 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Carim. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Carim. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
12
~ 1 in 28,562,862 Americans
Peak year
2023
7 babies that year
Average age
3
years old
2023 SSA rank
#9,911
Tracked since 2022
Popularity
Carim: popularity over time
Babies born per year
Decades
Carim by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Carim during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
| Decade | Male | Female | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020s | 12 | 0 | 12 |
Origin
Meaning and history of Carim
The name Carim has its origins in the Arabic language and culture, dating back to the 7th century AD. It is derived from the Arabic word "kareem," which means "generous" or "noble." The name was popular among Muslims during the early Islamic era and is still commonly used in various parts of the Middle East and North Africa.
One of the earliest known bearers of the name Carim was Carim ibn Abi Bakr al-Hashimi, a 7th-century Islamic scholar and jurist from Medina. He was renowned for his expertise in hadith (the sayings and traditions of Prophet Muhammad) and played a significant role in the development of Islamic jurisprudence.
In the 9th century, Carim al-Kufi was a prominent Islamic calligrapher and poet from Kufa, Iraq. His calligraphic works were highly regarded, and he is considered one of the masters of the Kufic script, an early style of Arabic calligraphy.
In the 12th century, Carim al-Din al-Harawi was a Persian mathematician and astronomer from Herat, Afghanistan. He made significant contributions to the fields of mathematics and astronomy, including the development of new computational methods for solving complex equations.
During the Mamluk Sultanate of Egypt in the 13th and 14th centuries, Carim al-Din al-Amidi was a renowned Islamic scholar and jurist. He authored several influential works on Islamic jurisprudence and theology, and his teachings had a lasting impact on the development of Islamic thought.
More recently, Carim Khedir was a 20th-century Algerian writer and activist. Born in 1908, he played a prominent role in the Algerian independence movement and was a vocal advocate for Algerian culture and identity. His literary works, which often addressed themes of resistance and liberation, were widely acclaimed.
Throughout history, the name Carim has been associated with individuals who have made notable contributions in various fields, including scholarship, literature, and activism. Its Arabic roots and connotations of generosity and nobility have made it a popular choice among Muslims and Arabic-speaking communities.
People
Carim + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Carim as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with C
Other first names starting with C with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Carim: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Carim?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 12 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Carim going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 28,562,862 US residents.
Is Carim a common name?
We classify Carim as "Very Rare". It ranks above 32.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 12 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Carim most popular?
The single biggest year for Carim was 2023, when 7 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Carim is about 3 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Carim in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Carim a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Carim in the SSA data are male. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Carim still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Carim in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Carim can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only covers names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files do not have a published Census demographic snapshot. In those cases, the page still shows the SSA trend, gender history, and state data.
How many Americans are named Carim?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.