Karran last name popularity, history, and meaning

Find out how popular the last name Karran is in the United States and learn more about the meaning, history, and race and ethnic origin of people in America who are named Karran.

Meaning of Karran

A variant spelling of the surname Karen, of Armenian origin meaning "little one".

Karran, like all of the last names we have data for, is identified by the U.S. Census Bureau as a surname which has more than 100 occurrences in the United States in the Decennial Census survey. The most recent statistics we have for the Karran surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Karran in America

Karran is the 129825th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Karran surname appeared 131 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 0 people would have the surname Karran.

The history of the last name Karran

The surname Karran has its origins in the Punjab region of northern India and Pakistan. It is believed to have derived from the Sanskrit word "Karuna," which means compassion or mercy. The name likely originated among Hindu or Sikh communities in this region before being adopted by Muslims as well.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Karran can be found in the Ain-i-Akbari, a 16th-century administrative document compiled during the reign of the Mughal Emperor Akbar. The text mentions a village called "Karrana" located in the present-day state of Haryana in India.

In the 18th century, the Karran surname began to appear in British colonial records as people from the Punjab region migrated to other parts of the subcontinent. One notable figure from this time was Karran Singh (1724-1789), a Sikh warrior who fought against the Afghan Durrani Empire in the Battle of Wandhama in 1748.

As the British Empire expanded, the Karran name spread to other parts of the world, particularly with the migration of Sikh and Punjabi communities to East Africa, Southeast Asia, and eventually to the United Kingdom and other parts of the Commonwealth. Notable individuals with this surname include:

  1. Sohan Singh Karran (1857-1942), a Sikh philosopher and scholar from Kenya who wrote extensively on Sikh theology and history.
  2. Munir Karran (1922-2002), a Guyanese politician and lawyer who served as the Attorney General of Guyana from 1964 to 1969.
  3. Jagdish Karran (born 1945), a Guyanese cricketer who played Test cricket for the West Indies in the 1970s.
  4. Harbhajan Singh Karran (1879-1957), a Sikh revolutionary and activist from India who fought against British colonial rule.
  5. Mohinder Karran (born 1962), a British businessman and entrepreneur of Punjabi descent, best known for founding the successful mobile phone company, Phones 4U.

While the name Karran has its roots in South Asia, it has since spread across the globe, carried by waves of migration and diaspora communities. The name continues to hold significance within Sikh and Punjabi communities, reflecting a rich cultural heritage and history.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Karran

We also have some data on the ancestry of people with the surname Karran.

The below race categories are the modified race categories used in the Census Bureau's population estimates program. All people were categorized into six mutually exclusive racial and Hispanic origin groups:

  1. White only
  2. Black only
  3. American Indian and Alaskan Native only
  4. Asian and Pacific Islander only
  5. Hispanic
  6. Two or More Races

For the most recent 2010 census data, the race/ethnic origin breakdown for Karran was:

Race/Ethnicity Percentage Total Occurrences
Non-Hispanic White Only 42.75% 56
Non-Hispanic Black Only 20.61% 27
Non-Hispanic Asian and Pacific Islander Only 27.48% 36
Non-Hispanic American Indian and Alaskan Native (S)% (S)
Non-Hispanic of Two or More Races (S)% (S)
Hispanic Origin 5.34% 7

Note: Any fields showing (S) means the data was suppressed for privacy so that the data does not in any way identify any specific individuals.

Data source

The last name data and ethnic breakdown of last names is sourced directly from the Decennial Census survey, conducted every 10 years by the United States Census Bureau.

The history and meaning of the name Karran was researched and written by our team of onomatology and genealogy experts.

If you have a correction or suggestion to improve the history of Karran, please contact us.

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"Karran last name popularity, history, and meaning". NameCensus.com. Accessed on July 6, 2025. http://namecensus.com/last-names/karran-surname-popularity/.

"Karran last name popularity, history, and meaning". NameCensus.com, http://namecensus.com/last-names/karran-surname-popularity/. Accessed 6 July, 2025

Karran last name popularity, history, and meaning. NameCensus.com. Retrieved from http://namecensus.com/last-names/karran-surname-popularity/.

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