Kaarina
A feminine Finnish name meaning "pure" or "bright".
Name Census estimates that about 28 living Americans carry the first name Kaarina. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Kaarina today is around 22 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Kaarina births was 2019 (7 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Kaarina. 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 Kaarina. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
28
~ 1 in 12,241,226 Americans
Peak year
2019
7 babies that year
Average age
22
years old
2019 SSA rank
#13,068
Tracked since 1977
Census
Kaarina in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 184 people with the first name Kaarina, which placed it at #40,443 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
#40,443
National first-name rank
People counted
184
184 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
76.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Kaarina
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kaarina is White at 76.1%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (8.2%) and Two or More Races (7.6%). 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 Kaarina 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 Kaarina at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White76.1% · 140
- Hispanic or Latino8.2% · 15
- Two or more races7.6% · 14
- Black or African American5.4% · 10
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.6% · 3
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.1% · 2
Popularity
Kaarina: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Kaarina from the 1970s through to the 2010s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 12 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Kaarina 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 Kaarina during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Kaarina
Kaarina is a Finnish feminine given name derived from the Greek name Katharina, which in turn comes from the Greek word "katharos" meaning "pure" or "clear." The name Kaarina has been in use in Finland since the Middle Ages, gaining popularity due to the influence of the Eastern Orthodox and Catholic churches.
The earliest recorded example of the name Kaarina can be found in the Finnish national epic, the Kalevala, which dates back to the 19th century. In the epic, Kaarina is mentioned as the wife of the legendary hero Väinämöinen.
One notable historical figure with the name Kaarina was Kaarina Maununtytär (born in the late 15th century), a Finnish noblewoman and one of the wealthiest landowners in medieval Finland. She played a significant role in the economic and political affairs of the country during her lifetime.
Another prominent individual with the name Kaarina was Kaarina Catharina Montensson (1611-1689), a Swedish-Finnish merchant and shipowner. She was one of the few women in 17th-century Finland to achieve success in business and commerce.
In the field of arts, Kaarina Rantasila (1914-1992) was a renowned Finnish actress and singer. She had a prolific career spanning over six decades and was awarded several honors for her contributions to Finnish cinema and theater.
Kaarina Kari (1937-2017) was a respected Finnish author and poet. She published numerous collections of poetry and prose, exploring themes of love, nature, and the human condition. Her works have been translated into several languages and have received critical acclaim.
Lastly, Kaarina Dromberg (1952-2008) was a Finnish visual artist known for her colorful and expressive abstract paintings. Her works have been exhibited in galleries and museums across Europe and are part of various private and public collections.
While the name Kaarina has its roots in ancient Greek and has been influenced by religious and cultural factors, it has become an integral part of Finnish culture and identity, with numerous notable individuals bearing this name throughout history.
People
Kaarina + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Kaarina as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with K
Other first names starting with K with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Kaarina: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Kaarina?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 28 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Kaarina 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 12,241,226 US residents.
Is Kaarina a common name?
We classify Kaarina as "Very Rare". It ranks above 45.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 29 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Kaarina most popular?
The single biggest year for Kaarina was 2019, when 7 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Kaarina is about 22 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Kaarina in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 184 people with the name Kaarina, or 0.06 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #40,443 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 Kaarina 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 Kaarina?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Kaarina leans strongly female. 186 people counted with this name were female (97.4%), compared with 5 male bearers (2.6%). 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 Kaarina?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kaarina is White at 76.1%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (8.2%) and Two or More Races (7.6%). 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 Kaarina most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Kaarina in the 2020 Census, accounting for 76.1% (140 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 Kaarina in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Kaarina a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Kaarina 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 Kaarina still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Kaarina 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 Kaarina 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 have Kaarina as a first name?
You can see how many Americans are named Kaarina on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.