Caris
Feminine · “Welsh "love”
Caris is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 1,210 girls against 5 boys since 1880.
Caris sits between Welsh and Greek and belongs comfortably to neither. Welsh caru means to love and gives Carys, a genuinely modern Welsh name; Greek charis means grace and gives Charis, an ancient one. Caris with a C and an i is close enough to both that the family gets to choose.
How old is the name Caris?
Caris first appears in US birth records in 1975 — 50 years ago. The typical Caris alive today was born around 2010, making them about 15 years old. About 1,200 people named Caris are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Caris most popular?
Caris peaked in 2013, reaching #2804 nationally. Today it ranks #7133, 4,329 places below that high. See the whole 2013 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From caru to Caris
The story of Caris
The Welsh cultural revival of the twentieth century produced a substantial number of new Welsh names built from Welsh words — Carys, Cerys, Ffion, Rhiannon — and they are genuinely Welsh even though they are recent, in the way that a word coined in English is genuinely English. Caris is the anglicized spelling. The Greek Charis had a separate life as a Puritan virtue name and a Christian theological term. The 2013 American peak sits with the general fashion for short Welsh- and Celtic-sounding names.
Meaningscholars disagree
Welsh "love"; or Greek "grace, charm"
Welsh Carys is formed from caru, to love, and is a twentieth-century Welsh coinage rather than a traditional name. Greek charis means grace, favor or charm, and gives the Charites, the three Graces, as well as the English words charity and charisma. Caris can descend from either, and the spelling with C and i does not commit to one.
How the name formed
- caru
- Carys
- Caris
Related forms: Carys · Cerys · Χάρις (Charis)
Pronouncing Caris
KAR-iss
Two syllables with the stress on the first and the final s unvoiced. Welsh Carys is said the same way. Greek Charis begins with a ch that Greek pronounces as a soft h, not as a K, though English has always said it with a K.
Nicknames for Caris
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1975
- Most girls named
- 201361 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2804reached in 2013
- Change vs 2024
- −31.8%15 in 2025, from 22
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Caris in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Carys in Welsh — same name
- Cerys in Welsh — related form
- Χάρις (Charis) in Greek — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, North Carolina.
Cariss among us
people named Caris are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 107,151 born in 2025 was named Caris
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Caris
- #7133
- Caris on the 2025 chart
- #800
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Caris went to 15 girls in 2025, but Karis, Carys and Kharis and the rest below are the same name said out loud. Together the 5 spellings went to 160, which makes it the 800th most-given girls’ name of the year — 6,333 places above the chart.
About 1 girl in 10,045 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 107,151 for Caris itself.
Spellings are grouped by a fixed rule that folds interchangeable English spellings of one sound (ck/k, ph/f, x/ks, a non-initial y for i) and keeps vowels apart, so Sean and Shawn stay separate names. It errs towards splitting: a family here is never larger than the truth. SSA national data, 2025. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Janielle test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Caris's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Janielle climbed just as high around 1985, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Janielle's path sketches the road Caris is walking now.
Caris sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Caris beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Caris in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Both possible sources have appealing meanings — love and grace.
- It is short, two syllables, and easy in English.
- It is recognizably Celtic without being difficult to spell.
- Carys is the correct Welsh spelling and Charis the correct Greek one.
- The final s is sometimes voiced by English speakers, giving a different sound.
- It will be read as a shortening of Charisse or Clarissa.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Caris to the vote.
Add it to a family vote or a couple’s swipe deck — the other person gets one card, a simple answer and room to say why. No app, no account for them.
Only the people you invite can see your list.
Already decided on Caris? Hide it among decoys and let them guess.
What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Caris
Feminine · #7133 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Cariss are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,200 people named Caris are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Caris?
- Caris is one of 5 recorded spellings. Karis is the more common one — 94 births in 2025 against 15 for Caris.
- How popular is the name Caris in 2025?
- Caris ranks #7133 among US girl names in 2025, with 15 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Caris?
- About 1 in every 107,151 US girls born in 2025 was named Caris — 15 in all.
- Will my child share the name Caris with classmates?
- Caris will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Caris
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Pennie#7133 · Zina#7133 · Elzie#7133 · Rosabel#7133 · Adelene#7133 · Cruz#7133 · Kansas#7133 · Ione#7133
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Caris? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Caris and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
Compare side by sideIn a hurry? Just pick a winner — one tap, no sign-up, and you see how everyone else voted.
Weighing a whole shortlist? Add the rest in the builder, or settle it with a bracket.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
No advertising trackers and no data sellinghow we handle your dataindependent and founder-run, about Name Battle