Karie
A feminine form of the Germanic name Karl, meaning strong and virile.
Name Census estimates that about 4,794 living Americans carry the first name Karie. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Karie today is around 48 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Karie births was 1975 (293 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Karie. 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
4.8K
~ 1 in 71,497 Americans
Peak year
1975
293 babies that year
Average age
48
years old
2022 SSA rank
#12,872
Tracked since 1950
Census
Karie in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 5,027 people with the first name Karie, which placed it at #3,896 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
#3,896
National first-name rank
People counted
5.0K
5,027 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.7
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
87.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Karie
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Karie is White at 87.0%. The next largest groups are Black (4.0%) and Hispanic (3.7%). 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 Karie 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 Karie at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White87.0% · 4,372
- Black or African American4.0% · 200
- Hispanic or Latino3.7% · 184
- Two or more races2.6% · 133
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.0% · 99
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.8% · 39
Popularity
Karie: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Karie from the 1950s through to the 2020s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 2,143 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
Karie 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 Karie during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Karies live
The SSA's state-level files cover 32 states and territories. California, Michigan, Ohio recorded the most babies named Karie, while Virginia, Tennessee, New Jersey recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 93 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Karie
The name Karie is derived from the Greek name Karia, which was the name of an ancient region in southwestern Anatolia, now part of modern-day Turkey. The region was known for its fertile lands and rich cultural heritage, dating back to the 8th century BC.
The name Karia is thought to be derived from the ancient Carian language, which was spoken by the indigenous people of the region. The Carians were a distinct ethnic group with their own language and culture, and they played a significant role in the history of the region.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Karie can be found in ancient Greek literature, where it was used as a feminine name. In the 5th century BC, the Greek historian Herodotus mentioned the Carians in his work "The Histories," describing them as a fierce and skilled group of warriors.
The name Karie has been associated with several notable historical figures over the centuries. One of the most famous was Karie of Antioch, a Christian martyr who lived in the 3rd century AD. She was executed for her faith during the persecution of Christians under the Roman Emperor Diocletian.
Another prominent figure with the name Karie was Karie of Gascony, a 12th-century noblewoman and heiress from the Duchy of Gascony in southwestern France. She played a significant role in the political affairs of the region during her lifetime.
In the 16th century, Karie of Brandenburg was a German princess and the wife of Elector Joachim II of Brandenburg. She was known for her patronage of the arts and her support for the Protestant Reformation in the region.
During the 18th century, Karie von Clausewitz was a Prussian noblewoman and the mother of the renowned military theorist Carl von Clausewitz. She is said to have played a significant role in shaping her son's intellectual development and interest in military strategy.
In the 19th century, Karie Frølich was a Norwegian composer and pianist. She was one of the first female composers in Norway to gain recognition for her works, which included piano compositions and songs.
Throughout its history, the name Karie has been associated with strength, resilience, and cultural heritage, reflecting the rich and diverse backgrounds from which it originated.
People
Karie + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Karie 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
Karie: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Karie?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 4,794 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Karie 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 71,497 US residents.
Is Karie a common name?
We classify Karie as "Rare". It ranks above 96.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 5,349 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Karie most popular?
The single biggest year for Karie was 1975, when 293 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Karie is about 48 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Karie in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 5,027 people with the name Karie, or 1.66 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #3,896 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 Karie 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 Karie?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Karie leans strongly female. 4,980 people counted with this name were female (98.9%), compared with 53 male bearers (1.1%). 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 Karie?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Karie is White at 87.0%. The next largest groups are Black (4.0%) and Hispanic (3.7%). 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 Karie most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Karie in the 2020 Census, accounting for 87.0% (4,372 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 Karie in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Karie a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Karie 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 Karie still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Karie 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 Karie 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 Karie?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.