Karyn
A feminine name of Brythonic origin meaning "pure" or "dear little one".
Name Census estimates that about 11,805 living Americans carry the first name Karyn. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Karyn today is around 53 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Karyn births was 1964 (607 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Karyn. 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 Karyn with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
12K
~ 1 in 29,035 Americans
Peak year
1964
607 babies that year
Average age
53
years old
1989 SSA rank
#8,569
Tracked since 1932
Census
Karyn in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 14,141 people with the first name Karyn, which placed it at #1,965 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
#1,965
National first-name rank
People counted
14K
14,141 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
4.7
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
83.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Karyn
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Karyn is White at 83.6%. The next largest groups are Black (7.2%) and Hispanic (4.1%). 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 Karyn 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 Karyn at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White83.6% · 11,823
- Black or African American7.2% · 1,022
- Hispanic or Latino4.1% · 585
- Two or more races2.5% · 359
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.1% · 300
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.4% · 52
Gender
Gender distribution for Karyn
Out of the 14,140 babies given the name Karyn since 1880, 100.0% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Karyn as a male name
- Ranked #8,569 in 1989
- 5 male births in 1989
- Peak: 1989 (5 births)
Karyn as a female name
- Ranked #12,735 in 2024
- 7 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1964 (607 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Karyn appears almost entirely female. Of the 14,141 people counted with this name, 99.8% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Karyn: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Karyn from the 1930s through to the 2020s, spanning 10 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 4,311 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1960s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Karyn 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 Karyn during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Karyns live
The SSA's state-level files cover 38 states and territories. California, New York, Illinois recorded the most babies named Karyn, while South Carolina, Montana, Nebraska recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 276 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Karyn
The name Karyn is derived from the Greek name Katharina, which means "pure" or "clear." It traces its roots back to the ancient Greek language and culture, with the earliest recorded use dating back to the 4th century BC.
In the early Christian era, the name Katharina gained popularity due to its association with Saint Catherine of Alexandria, a 4th-century Christian martyr and scholar. The name gradually spread across Europe and underwent various spelling variations, including Kathryn, Cathrine, and Karyn.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Karyn can be found in the 12th-century Icelandic manuscript, the Book of Settlements. This text mentions a woman named Karyn, who was a landowner in Iceland during the Viking Age.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Karyn. One of the earliest was Karyn von Lichtenberg (1290-1349), a German noblewoman and landowner who played a significant role in the political affairs of the Holy Roman Empire.
In the 16th century, Karyn Wijngaards (1510-1577) was a Dutch painter known for her religious works and portraits. Her paintings can be found in various museums across Europe.
During the Renaissance period, Karyn Bradstreet (1612-1672) was an English poet and the first published writer in the British North American colonies. Her collection of poems, "The Tenth Muse Lately Sprung Up in America," was published in 1650.
In the 19th century, Karyn Kusama (1829-1897) was a Japanese novelist and poet renowned for her works exploring the lives of women in feudal Japan. Her novel, "The Broken Commandment," is considered a classic of Japanese literature.
More recently, Karyn Kusama (born 1968) is an American film director and screenwriter known for her work in the horror and thriller genres, including the films "Girlfight" (2000) and "Jennifer's Body" (2009).
While the name Karyn has undergone various spellings and cultural adaptations, its core meaning and historical significance have remained rooted in its Greek origins, reflecting purity, clarity, and a rich tapestry of cultural influences spanning centuries.
People
Karyn + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Karyn 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
Karyn: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Karyn?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 11,805 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Karyn 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 29,035 US residents.
Is Karyn a common name?
We classify Karyn as "Uncommon". It ranks above 97.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 14,140 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Karyn most popular?
The single biggest year for Karyn was 1964, when 607 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Karyn is about 53 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Karyn in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 14,141 people with the name Karyn, or 4.68 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,965 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 Karyn 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 Karyn?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Karyn appears almost entirely female. Of the 14,141 people counted with this name, 99.8% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Karyn?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Karyn is White at 83.6%. The next largest groups are Black (7.2%) and Hispanic (4.1%). 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 Karyn most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Karyn in the 2020 Census, accounting for 83.6% (11,823 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 Karyn in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Karyn a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Karyn 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 Karyn still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Karyn 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 Karyn 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 Karyn?
Find out how many people share the name Karyn on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.