Carin
A feminine name of Swedish origin meaning "beloved".
Name Census estimates that about 3,925 living Americans carry the first name Carin. It is a predominantly female name (98.3% of registrations). The average person named Carin today is around 51 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Carin births was 1970 (175 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Carin. 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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Carin with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Carin is used almost entirely for girls, the SSA data does show 80 boys registered with the name since 1880.
People living today
3.9K
~ 1 in 87,326 Americans
Peak year
1970
175 babies that year
Average age
51
years old
2024 SSA rank
#6,504
Tracked since 1939
Census
Carin in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 4,664 people with the first name Carin, which placed it at #4,124 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#4,124
National first-name rank
People counted
4.7K
4,664 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
81.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Carin
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Carin is White at 81.7%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (7.4%) and Black (5.5%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Carin described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Carin at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White81.7% · 3,809
- Hispanic or Latino7.4% · 343
- Black or African American5.5% · 258
- Two or more races3.0% · 138
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.2% · 101
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.3% · 15
Gender
Gender distribution for Carin
Carin leans heavily female at 98.3% of total registrations, but 80 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Carin as a male name
- Ranked #6,504 in 2024
- 13 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2023 (23 births)
Carin as a female name
- Ranked #14,688 in 2016
- 6 female births in 2016
- Peak: 1970 (175 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Carin leans strongly female. 4,588 people counted with this name were female (98.3%), compared with 78 male bearers (1.7%).
Popularity
Carin: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Carin from the 1930s through to the 2020s, spanning 10 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 1,394 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1970s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Carin 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 Carin during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Carins live
The SSA's state-level files cover 22 states and territories. California, New York, Illinois recorded the most babies named Carin, while North Carolina, Georgia, Connecticut recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 102 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Carin
The name Carin has its origins in the Germanic languages, derived from the Old Norse word "kara," meaning "beloved" or "dear one." It is a diminutive form of the name Karen, which has similar roots and meanings.
One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Carin can be found in the Scandinavian countries, where it was a popular name during the Viking era. It is believed to have been used as a feminine form of the Old Norse name Karén, which was a masculine name derived from the same root word.
In the medieval period, the name Carin gained popularity in various parts of Europe, particularly in the Germanic and Scandinavian regions. It was often associated with nobility and royalty, as evidenced by its appearance in historical records and genealogies.
One notable historical figure bearing the name Carin was Carin Nilsdotter, a Swedish noblewoman who lived in the 15th century. She was the wife of Nils Gädda, a prominent Swedish statesman and military commander during the Kalmar Union period.
Another famous Carin was Carin Göring, the first wife of Hermann Göring, a leading member of the Nazi Party and one of the most powerful figures in the Third Reich. She was born in 1888 and passed away in 1931, before the rise of the Nazi regime.
In the literary world, Carin Gerhardsen was a Swedish crime fiction writer who gained prominence in the late 20th century. Her most notable work was the Hammarby Series, featuring the detective Conny Sjöberg. She was born in 1962 and passed away in 2022.
Carin Teruzzi was an Italian-Swedish artist and sculptor known for her abstract and minimalist works. She was born in 1958 and has had her work exhibited in various galleries and museums around the world.
Carin Muhr, born in 1953, is a Swedish politician and former member of the Riksdag (Swedish parliament). She served as the leader of the Centre Party from 1995 to 2001 and played a significant role in Swedish politics during that period.
While the name Carin has its roots in the Germanic and Scandinavian regions, it has also gained popularity in other parts of the world, particularly in English-speaking countries, where it is sometimes used as a variant spelling of the more common name Karen.
People
Carin + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Carin 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
Carin: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Carin?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 3,925 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Carin 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 87,326 US residents.
Is Carin a common name?
We classify Carin as "Rare". It ranks above 96% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 4,596 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Carin most popular?
The single biggest year for Carin was 1970, when 175 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Carin is about 51 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Carin in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 4,664 people with the name Carin, or 1.54 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #4,124 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Carin in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Carin?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Carin leans strongly female. 4,588 people counted with this name were female (98.3%), compared with 78 male bearers (1.7%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Carin?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Carin is White at 81.7%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (7.4%) and Black (5.5%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Carin most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Carin in the 2020 Census, accounting for 81.7% (3,809 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
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 Carin in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Carin a female name?
Yes, 98.3% of people registered as Carin in the SSA data are female. 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 Carin still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Carin 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 Carin 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.
How common is the name Carin?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many people share the name Carin at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.