Karlette
Feminine form of the name Karl, of German origin meaning "free man".
Name Census estimates that about 50 living Americans carry the first name Karlette. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Karlette today is around 39 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Karlette births was 2024 (10 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Karlette. 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 Karlette. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
50
~ 1 in 6,855,087 Americans
Peak year
2024
10 babies that year
Average age
39
years old
2024 SSA rank
#9,858
Tracked since 1953
Census
Karlette in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 122 people with the first name Karlette, which placed it at #49,985 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
#49,985
National first-name rank
People counted
122
122 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
37.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Karlette
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Karlette is Black at 37.7%. The next largest groups are White (31.1%) and Hispanic (22.1%). 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 Karlette 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 Karlette at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American37.7% · 46
- White31.1% · 38
- Hispanic or Latino22.1% · 27
- Two or more races4.9% · 6
- American Indian and Alaska Native3.3% · 4
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.8% · 1
Popularity
Karlette: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Karlette from the 1950s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2020s, with 15 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
Karlette 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 Karlette 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 Karlette
The name Karlette is a feminine form of the male name Karl, which has its origins in the Germanic language. The name Karl is derived from the Old Norse word "karl," meaning "a free man" or "husband." It later evolved into the Old High German form "karl," which carried the same meaning.
Karlette likely emerged as a diminutive or affectionate variant of Karl, with the addition of the French suffix "-ette," which is commonly used to create feminine forms of masculine names. This suggests that the name Karlette may have been influenced by French culture and language, although its exact origins are unclear.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Karlette can be found in the 16th century. Karlette von Habsburg (1556-1598) was a German noblewoman and a member of the influential Habsburg dynasty. She was the daughter of Archduke Ferdinand II of Austria and played a significant role in the political and cultural affairs of her time.
In the 17th century, Karlette Thunberg (1623-1687) was a Swedish painter and engraver. She is considered one of the most prominent female artists of the Swedish Golden Age and is renowned for her portraiture and still life paintings.
Moving into the 18th century, Karlette von Schönfeld (1718-1792) was a German writer and poet. She was a member of the literary circle known as the "Göttinger Hain" and contributed to the development of German literature during the Enlightenment period.
In the 19th century, Karlette Steckler (1858-1914) was an Austrian painter and illustrator. She was known for her vibrant landscapes and illustrations of fairy tales and folklore, which captured the imagination of her contemporaries.
Another notable figure with the name Karlette was Karlette Delacorte (1890-1972), an American philanthropist and patron of the arts. She was instrumental in establishing the Delacorte Theater in New York City's Central Park, which has hosted numerous theatrical productions and cultural events over the years.
While the name Karlette may not be as common today as it was in the past, it has a rich history spanning several centuries and cultures. These examples demonstrate the versatility and enduring appeal of this name, which has been carried by individuals from various walks of life, including nobility, artists, writers, and philanthropists.
People
Karlette + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Karlette 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
Karlette: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Karlette?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 50 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Karlette 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 6,855,087 US residents.
Is Karlette a common name?
We classify Karlette as "Very Rare". It ranks above 54.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 58 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Karlette most popular?
The single biggest year for Karlette was 2024, when 10 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Karlette is about 39 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Karlette in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 122 people with the name Karlette, or 0.04 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #49,985 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 Karlette 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 Karlette?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Karlette leans strongly female. 123 people counted with this name were female (98.4%), compared with 2 male bearers (1.6%). 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 Karlette?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Karlette is Black at 37.7%. The next largest groups are White (31.1%) and Hispanic (22.1%). 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 Karlette most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Karlette in the 2020 Census, accounting for 37.7% (46 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 Karlette in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Karlette a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Karlette 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 Karlette still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Karlette 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 Karlette 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 Karlette?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.