Carsten
A masculine name of Scandinavian origin meaning "keeper of the enclosure".
Name Census estimates that about 2,210 living Americans carry the first name Carsten. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Carsten today is around 20 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Carsten births was 2011 (129 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Carsten. 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 Carsten with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
2.2K
~ 1 in 155,092 Americans
Peak year
2011
129 babies that year
Average age
20
years old
2024 SSA rank
#4,716
Tracked since 1912
Census
Carsten in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 2,526 people with the first name Carsten, which placed it at #6,373 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
#6,373
National first-name rank
People counted
2.5K
2,526 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.8
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
85.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Carsten
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Carsten is White at 85.7%. The next largest groups are Black (4.8%) and Two or More Races (4.0%). 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 Carsten 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 Carsten at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White85.7% · 2,164
- Black or African American4.8% · 122
- Two or more races4.0% · 100
- Hispanic or Latino3.4% · 87
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.9% · 49
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.2% · 4
Gender
Gender distribution for Carsten
Out of the 2,351 babies given the name Carsten since 1880, 99.6% were registered as male. The name sits firmly on the male side of the spectrum, with only a handful of female registrations across the entire dataset.
Carsten as a male name
- Ranked #4,716 in 2024
- 21 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2011 (129 births)
Carsten as a female name
- Ranked #15,576 in 2020
- 5 female births in 2020
- Peak: 2015 (5 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Carsten leans strongly male. 2,463 people counted with this name were male (97.0%), compared with 75 female bearers (3.0%).
Popularity
Carsten: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Carsten from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 11 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 886 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2010s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Carsten 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 Carsten during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Carstens live
The SSA's state-level files cover 22 states and territories. California, Texas, Wisconsin recorded the most babies named Carsten, while Nebraska, Illinois, Alabama recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 23 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Carsten
The name Carsten originates from the Low German or North German language region, with roots that can be traced back to the Middle Ages. It is a Germanic name derived from the Old Norse word "Karsi" or "Karstein," which means "warrior" or "stone."
The earliest known use of the name Carsten dates back to the 12th century, when it was mentioned in various medieval records and documents from northern Germany and Denmark. It was a popular name among the nobility and upper classes during this time period.
In the 13th century, a Carsten von Rantzau was recorded as a prominent German knight and landowner in Holstein, Germany. He was known for his bravery and military exploits during the Northern Crusades.
Another notable figure was Carsten Niebuhr, a Danish explorer and mathematician who lived from 1733 to 1815. He is famous for his participation in the Danish Arabia Expedition and his contributions to the study of ancient civilizations in the Middle East.
In the 19th century, Carsten Hauch (1790-1872) was a celebrated Danish poet, novelist, and playwright. He is considered one of the pioneers of the Danish Golden Age of literature and was highly influential in shaping the country's cultural identity.
Carsten Egeberg Borchgrevink (1864-1936) was a Norwegian explorer and pioneer of Antarctic exploration. He led the first expedition to overwinter on the Antarctic mainland and made significant contributions to the study of the region's geography and wildlife.
Carsten Kengeter (born 1967) is a German businessman and former CEO of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. He played a key role in the integration of various European stock exchanges and the digitalization of the financial industry.
Over the centuries, the name Carsten has maintained its popularity in Scandinavian countries, Germany, and other parts of northern Europe, often associated with strength, determination, and a connection to the region's rich cultural heritage.
People
Carsten + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Carsten 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
Carsten: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Carsten?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2,210 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Carsten 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 155,092 US residents.
Is Carsten a common name?
We classify Carsten as "Rare". It ranks above 94.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,351 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Carsten most popular?
The single biggest year for Carsten was 2011, when 129 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Carsten is about 20 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Carsten in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 2,526 people with the name Carsten, or 0.84 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #6,373 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 Carsten 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 Carsten?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Carsten leans strongly male. 2,463 people counted with this name were male (97.0%), compared with 75 female bearers (3.0%). 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 Carsten?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Carsten is White at 85.7%. The next largest groups are Black (4.8%) and Two or More Races (4.0%). 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 Carsten most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Carsten in the 2020 Census, accounting for 85.7% (2,164 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 Carsten in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Carsten a male name?
Yes, 99.6% of people registered as Carsten 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 Carsten still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Carsten 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 Carsten 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 many people are named Carsten?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.