Karenann
A variant of Karen, a feminine name derived from Catherine of Greek origin meaning "pure".
Name Census estimates that about 104 living Americans carry the first name Karenann. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Karenann today is around 65 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Karenann births was 1944 (12 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Karenann. 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.
People living today
104
~ 1 in 3,295,715 Americans
Peak year
1944
12 babies that year
Average age
65
years old
1986 SSA rank
#10,108
Tracked since 1944
Census
Karenann in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 334 people with the first name Karenann, which placed it at #27,416 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
#27,416
National first-name rank
People counted
334
334 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
76.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Karenann
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Karenann is White at 76.6%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (13.5%) and Black (5.1%). 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 Karenann 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 Karenann at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White76.6% · 256
- Asian and Pacific Islander13.5% · 45
- Black or African American5.1% · 17
- Hispanic or Latino2.1% · 7
- Two or more races1.5% · 5
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.2% · 4
Popularity
Karenann: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Karenann from the 1940s through to the 1980s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1950s, with 56 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1950s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Karenann 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 Karenann 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 Karenann
The name Karenann is a combination of the two names Karen and Ann. Karen is derived from the ancient Danish name Kat(h)rine, which was the Scandinavian form of the Greek name Katharina. Katharina is derived from the Greek word "katharos" meaning "pure" or "clear." The name Ann is derived from the Hebrew name Hannah, meaning "grace" or "favor."
The earliest recorded use of the name Karen dates back to the 12th century in Denmark, where it was a popular name among the nobility. It gained widespread popularity in the English-speaking world during the 19th century. The name Ann has been in use since biblical times and has been a popular name in various cultures throughout history.
While there are no specific historical references to the combined name Karenann, the individual names Karen and Ann have been borne by several notable figures throughout history. One of the earliest recorded individuals named Karen was Karen Brahe (1528-1604), a Danish noblewoman and horticulturist who is credited with introducing the daffodil to Denmark.
Another notable Karen was Karen Blixen (1885-1962), a Danish author best known for her memoir "Out of Africa." In more recent times, Karen Carpenter (1950-1983) was an American singer and drummer who was part of the popular musical duo The Carpenters.
As for the name Ann, there are several notable historical figures, including Saint Ann, the mother of the Virgin Mary in Christian tradition. Ann Boleyn (c. 1501-1536) was the second wife of King Henry VIII of England and played a significant role in the English Reformation.
Ann Radcliffe (1764-1823) was an English author and a pioneer of the gothic novel genre, while Ann Landers (1918-2002) was an American advice columnist whose syndicated column was widely read for over 50 years.
People
Karenann + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Karenann 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
Karenann: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Karenann?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 104 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Karenann 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 3,295,715 US residents.
Is Karenann a common name?
We classify Karenann as "Very Rare". It ranks above 65.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 145 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Karenann most popular?
The single biggest year for Karenann was 1944, when 12 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Karenann is about 65 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Karenann in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 334 people with the name Karenann, or 0.11 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #27,416 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 Karenann 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 Karenann?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Karenann appears almost entirely female. Of the 335 people counted with this name, 100.0% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Karenann?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Karenann is White at 76.6%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (13.5%) and Black (5.1%). 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 Karenann most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Karenann in the 2020 Census, accounting for 76.6% (256 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 Karenann in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Karenann a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Karenann 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 Karenann still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Karenann 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 Karenann 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 the name Karenann?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.