Karenlee
A feminine name fusing Karen and Lee into a single given name.
Name Census estimates that about 17 living Americans carry the first name Karenlee. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Karenlee today is around 76 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Karenlee births was 1947 (9 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Karenlee. 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
- • The typical person named Karenlee is about 76 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Karenlees were born before 1960.
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Karenlee. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
17
~ 1 in 20,162,020 Americans
Peak year
1947
9 babies that year
Average age
76
years old
1961 SSA rank
#7,024
Tracked since 1942
Popularity
Karenlee: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Karenlee from the 1940s through to the 1960s, spanning 2 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1940s, with 27 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1940s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Karenlee 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 Karenlee 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 Karenlee
The name Karenlee is a relatively modern combination of the name Karen and the name Lee. It does not have a direct linguistic ancestry or cultural origin as a single name.
The first part, Karen, is a Danish and Norwegian feminine name derived from the Greek name Katharine, which itself comes from the Greek word "katharos" meaning "pure". The name Karen became popular in English-speaking countries in the 20th century.
The second part, Lee, is an English surname derived from the Old English word "leah" meaning a meadow or clearing in a forest. As a given name, Lee gained popularity in the United States and other English-speaking countries in the late 20th century.
While there are no known historical figures specifically named Karenlee, there have been several notable individuals named Karen or Lee throughout history. One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Karen is Saint Karen, a 7th-century Irish nun and abbess who founded a monastery in Brittany, France.
In more recent times, Karen Carpenter (1950-1983) was an American singer and drummer who achieved success as part of the popular music duo The Carpenters. Karen Blixen (1885-1962) was a Danish author best known for her book "Out of Africa" which depicted her life on a coffee plantation in Kenya.
With the name Lee, there have been several notable figures such as Robert E. Lee (1807-1870), the famous Confederate general during the American Civil War. Bruce Lee (1940-1973) was a renowned Hong Kong American martial artist, actor, and philosopher who popularized martial arts movies in the West.
Harper Lee (1926-2016) was an American novelist best known for her Pulitzer Prize-winning novel "To Kill a Mockingbird". Lee Kuan Yew (1923-2015) was the first Prime Minister of Singapore, governing for three decades and playing a key role in the country's economic development.
People
Karenlee + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Karenlee 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
Karenlee: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Karenlee?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 17 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Karenlee 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 20,162,020 US residents.
Is Karenlee a common name?
We classify Karenlee as "Very Rare". It ranks above 37.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 32 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Karenlee most popular?
The single biggest year for Karenlee was 1947, when 9 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Karenlee is about 76 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 Karenlee in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Karenlee a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Karenlee 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 Karenlee still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Karenlee 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 Karenlee 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 people share the name Karenlee?
Want to know how many people share the name Karenlee? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.