Karson
A masculine name of Old Norse origin meaning "son of Carl."
Name Census estimates that about 22,535 living Americans carry the first name Karson. It sits at #397 in the overall ranking, outside the top 50 but still well-represented. It is a predominantly male name (90.9% of registrations). The average person named Karson today is around 13 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Karson births was 2018 (1,412 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Karson. 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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Karson with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Karson is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 13 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
23K
~ 1 in 15,210 Americans
Peak year
2018
1,412 babies that year
Average age
13
years old
2024 SSA rank
#397
Tracked since 1966
Census
Karson in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 15,152 people with the first name Karson, which placed it at #1,890 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
#1,890
National first-name rank
People counted
15K
15,152 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
5.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
70.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Karson
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Karson is White at 70.0%. The next largest groups are Black (16.5%) and Two or More Races (6.4%). 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 Karson 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 Karson at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White70.0% · 10,610
- Black or African American16.5% · 2,498
- Two or more races6.4% · 963
- Hispanic or Latino4.5% · 681
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.7% · 258
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.9% · 142
Gender
Gender distribution for Karson
Karson leans heavily male at 90.9% of total registrations, but 2,063 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Karson as a male name
- Ranked #397 in 2024
- 813 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2018 (1,344 births)
Karson as a female name
- Ranked #3,132 in 2024
- 51 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1999 (105 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Karson leans strongly male. 13,442 people counted with this name were male (88.7%), compared with 1,712 female bearers (11.3%).
Popularity
Karson: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Karson from the 1960s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 11,360 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Karson remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Karson 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 Karson during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Karsons live
The SSA's state-level files cover 49 states and territories. Texas, Georgia, Ohio recorded the most babies named Karson, while Alaska, New Mexico, Vermont recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 405 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Karson
The name Karson has its origins in the Old Norse language and is derived from the word "Karlsson," which means "son of Karl." Karl was a common Germanic name that was derived from the word "karl," meaning "free man" or "husband." The name Karson gained popularity during the Viking Age, which lasted from the late 8th century to the late 11th century.
The earliest recorded use of the name Karson can be traced back to the medieval period in Scandinavia, particularly in areas such as Sweden, Norway, and Denmark. It was commonly used as a patronymic surname, indicating that the person was the son of someone named Karl.
There are no known historical references to the name Karson in ancient texts or religious scriptures. However, the name has been associated with several notable figures throughout history.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Karson was Karson the Red, a Norwegian Viking who is said to have lived in the 9th century. He was renowned for his fierce battle skills and his participation in numerous raids across Europe.
Another notable figure with the name Karson was Karson Gustavsson, a Swedish military officer who lived from 1612 to 1679. He played a significant role in the Thirty Years' War and was known for his bravery and strategic prowess.
In the 19th century, Karson Sæter, a Norwegian farmer and politician, made a name for himself as a prominent figure in the Norwegian independence movement. He was born in 1827 and died in 1901.
More recently, Karson Kuhlman, an American singer and songwriter, gained popularity in the early 2000s for his work in the Christian music industry. He was born in 1978 and is still active in the music scene today.
Lastly, Karson Jákupsstovu, a Faroese politician and member of the Løgting (the Faroese parliament), has been a prominent figure in the Faroese political landscape since the early 2000s. He was born in 1973 and continues to serve in the Løgting.
People
Karson + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Karson 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
Karson: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Karson?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 22,535 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Karson 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 15,210 US residents.
Is Karson a common name?
We classify Karson as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 22,753 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Karson most popular?
The single biggest year for Karson was 2018, when 1,412 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Karson is about 13 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Karson in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 15,152 people with the name Karson, or 5.02 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,890 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 Karson 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 Karson?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Karson leans strongly male. 13,442 people counted with this name were male (88.7%), compared with 1,712 female bearers (11.3%). 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 Karson?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Karson is White at 70.0%. The next largest groups are Black (16.5%) and Two or More Races (6.4%). 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 Karson most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Karson in the 2020 Census, accounting for 70.0% (10,610 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 Karson in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Karson a male name?
Yes, 90.9% of people registered as Karson in the SSA data are male. 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 Karson still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Karson 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 Karson 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 Karson?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.