Karolynn
Feminine diminutive form of the name Caroline, derived from Carolus, meaning "free man".
Name Census estimates that about 239 living Americans carry the first name Karolynn. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Karolynn today is around 32 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Karolynn births was 2014 (15 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Karolynn. 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
239
~ 1 in 1,434,119 Americans
Peak year
2014
15 babies that year
Average age
32
years old
2022 SSA rank
#16,473
Tracked since 1940
Census
Karolynn in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 326 people with the first name Karolynn, which placed it at #27,839 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
#27,839
National first-name rank
People counted
326
326 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
67.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Karolynn
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Karolynn is White at 67.8%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (16.6%) and Black (9.5%). 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 Karolynn 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 Karolynn at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White67.8% · 221
- Hispanic or Latino16.6% · 54
- Black or African American9.5% · 31
- Two or more races3.1% · 10
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.8% · 6
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.2% · 4
Popularity
Karolynn: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Karolynn from the 1940s through to the 2020s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 65 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2010s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Karolynn 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 Karolynn during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Karolynns live
Origin
Meaning and history of Karolynn
The name Karolynn is a variant spelling of the feminine name Caroline, which is derived from the ancient Germanic name Karlmann. This was a compound name formed from the elements "karl" meaning "man" and "mann" meaning "man". The name Karlmann was later influenced by the Latin word "Carolus", meaning "manly" or "masculine".
Caroline and its variants like Karolynn emerged during the Middle Ages in various parts of Europe where Germanic languages were spoken. It was popularized by the Carolingian dynasty of Frankish rulers, who traced their ancestry to Charles Martel, a 7th-century military leader. The name became particularly widespread after Charlemagne, one of the most famous rulers of this dynasty.
One of the earliest recorded references to the name Caroline can be found in the 9th-century Vita Karoli Magni, a biography of Charlemagne written by Einhard. This work mentioned Charlemagne's daughter, named Carolingia, which was likely a variation of Caroline.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Karolynn or its variants. One example is Caroline of Ansbach (1683-1737), the wife of King George II of Great Britain. Another is Caroline Herschel (1750-1848), a German astronomer who discovered several comets and was the first woman to be paid for her contributions to science.
In the literary world, Caroline Norton (1808-1877) was an English writer and social reformer who campaigned for the protection of married women's rights. Caroline Sheridan Norton was also one of the earliest individuals to use the name Karolynn.
In the realm of religion, Caroline Matilda (1751-1775) was a Danish princess who converted to Lutheranism upon her marriage to King Christian VII of Denmark. Caroline Chisholm (1808-1877) was an English philanthropist known for her work in assisting immigrant families in Australia.
Finally, in the field of politics, Caroline Lucretia Herschel (1750-1848) was a German-British astronomer and the first woman to be paid for her contributions to science, while Caroline Mikkelsen (1906-1998) was a Norwegian explorer and one of the first women to overwinter in Antarctica.
People
Karolynn + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Karolynn 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
Karolynn: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Karolynn?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 239 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Karolynn 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 1,434,119 US residents.
Is Karolynn a common name?
We classify Karolynn as "Very Rare". It ranks above 76.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 271 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Karolynn most popular?
The single biggest year for Karolynn was 2014, when 15 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Karolynn is about 32 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Karolynn in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 326 people with the name Karolynn, or 0.11 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #27,839 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 Karolynn 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 Karolynn?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Karolynn leans strongly female. 319 people counted with this name were female (98.8%), compared with 4 male bearers (1.2%). 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 Karolynn?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Karolynn is White at 67.8%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (16.6%) and Black (9.5%). 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 Karolynn most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Karolynn in the 2020 Census, accounting for 67.8% (221 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 Karolynn in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Karolynn a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Karolynn 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 Karolynn still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Karolynn 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 Karolynn 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 called Karolynn?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.