Kareena
Feminine · “Greek "pure”
Kareena is a spelling made for English eyes of a name that already existed in three traditions. Karina is Scandinavian, Russian and Italian; Karima is Arabic; and Kareena as a spelling was made internationally visible by a Bollywood actress from the 2000s, which is the most likely proximate cause of its American peak in 2002.
How old is the name Kareena?
Kareena first appears in US birth records in 1970 — 55 years ago. The typical Kareena alive today was born around 2004, making them about 21 years old. About 1,500 people named Kareena are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Kareena most popular?
Kareena peaked in 2002, reaching #2331 nationally. Today it ranks #7133, 4,802 places below that high. See the whole 2002 chart.
Where it comes from
From Aikaterine to Kareena
The story of Kareena
The double e is the tell. English has no reliable way to write a long i sound in the middle of a name — Karina can be read KAH-ree-na or kuh-RYE-na — and doubling the e removes the ambiguity at the cost of looking non-standard. Families making that trade are usually writing for an English-reading audience rather than a Scandinavian or Slavic one. In India the spelling Kareena became familiar through cinema, and its American appearances from the late 1990s onward track both South Asian usage and the general availability of the shape.
Meaningscholars disagree
Greek "pure", by way of Katarina
Karina is generally a Scandinavian and Slavic form of Katarina, from Greek Aikaterine, and carries the same reinterpreted meaning of purity as the whole Katherine family. A separate derivation takes it from Latin carus, dear or beloved, which would make it a cousin of Cara. Arabic Karima, "generous, noble", is a third and unrelated name that the spelling sometimes stands in for.
How the name formed
- Aikaterine
- Katarina
- Karina
- Kareena
Related forms: Карина (Karina) · Karina · Carina · करीना
Pronouncing Kareena
kuh-REE-nuh
Three syllables with the stress in the middle and a long EE — which is exactly what the double e exists to guarantee. Karina with one e is ambiguous between this and kuh-RYE-nuh; Kareena is not.
Nicknames for Kareena
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
- 1970
- Most girls named
- 200269 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2331reached in 2002
- Change vs 2024
- +25.0%15 in 2025, from 12
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.
Kareena in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Карина (Karina) in Russian — same name
- Karina in Norwegian — same name
- Carina in Italian — same name
- करीना in Hindi — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, New York.
Kareenas among us
people named Kareena are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 107,151 born in 2025 was named Kareena
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Kareena
- #7133
- Kareena on the 2025 chart
- #930
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Kareena went to 15 girls in 2025, but Karena is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 30, which makes it the 930th most-given girls’ name of the year — 6,203 places above the chart.
- Kareena15
- Karena15
About 1 girl in 53,576 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 107,151 for Kareena 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 Robbye test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Kareena's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Robbye climbed just as high around 1913, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Robbye's path sketches the road Kareena is walking now.
Kareena 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
Kareena beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Kareena in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The spelling removes a real pronunciation ambiguity rather than adding decoration.
- It connects to the enormous Katherine family through a genuine European form.
- Reena and Kari are both established short forms.
- Karina is the standard international spelling and will be written instead.
- The name has three unrelated possible origins.
- The double e reads as an Anglicization to Scandinavian and Slavic speakers.
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What they receive
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Kareena
Feminine · #7133 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Kareenas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,500 people named Kareena are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Kareena?
- Kareena is the most-used spelling in US records — 15 of the 30 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Karena.
- How popular is the name Kareena in 2025?
- Kareena ranks #7133 among US girl names in 2025, with 15 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Kareena?
- About 1 in every 107,151 US girls born in 2025 was named Kareena — 15 in all.
- Will my child share the name Kareena with classmates?
- Kareena will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Kareena
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 Kareena? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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