Karey
Feminine · “from a surname”
Karey is given to both — 2,187 girls and 584 boys since 1880. See Karey as a boy nameSee other names given to both
The commonest spelling of this name was assembled in a studio office. An English actor who had been born with an entirely different name took the first half from a part he had played and the second from a list the studio kept, and the combination went on to be one of the most recognizable names of its century.
How old is the name Karey?
Karey first appears in US birth records in 1941 — 84 years ago. The typical Karey alive today was born around 1975, making them about 50 years old. About 2,000 people named Karey are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Karey most popular?
Karey peaked in 1975, reaching #1012 nationally. See the whole 1975 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Ó Ciardha to Karey
The story of Karey
Two families arrived at the same surname from opposite ends of the British Isles. The Irish one comes from a personal name built on a word for dark or black, and it is one of a whole set of Irish names built on color terms. The English one is territorial: a village in the west country, taking its name from the river beside it, which is a Celtic river name of the sort that survives all over England after everything around it has changed language twice. The two spellings converged in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries and have been indistinguishable ever since, so the surname is genuinely two surnames wearing one coat.
Meaningscholars disagree
from a surname, and there are two unrelated ones
One source is Irish and built on a word for dark. The other is English and comes from a place in Devon named after a river. They are not related to each other in any way, and a modern bearer has no way of knowing which is behind their name.
How the name formed
- Ó Ciardha
- Carey
- Karey
Pronouncing Karey
KAIR-ee
Two syllables with the stress at the front. The k and the -ey change nothing audible; the name is said exactly as Carey and Cary are.
Nicknames for Karey
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
- 1941
- Most girls named
- 1975119 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1012reached in 1975
- Change vs 2008
- 0.0%5 in 2015, from 5
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.
Kareys among us
people named Karey are estimated to be alive in the US today
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
Questions parents actually ask
Fashion outlook
Karey sits outside the current charts, and that is its own kind of answer: naming cycles can only date the names they carried up. A name this rare has no decade stamped on it — it cannot go out of fashion, because it was never in.
Based on 146 years of naming cycles. How we read them
The trade-off
- It is completely unisex without sounding as though it is trying to be.
- Kay sits inside it as a short form that stands on its own.
- The sound is settled and nobody hesitates over it.
- Carey, Cary, Kerry and Kari are all in use and the spelling gets queried constantly.
- Most children with this spelling are girls, but a real minority are boys; either may be taken for the other.
- Neither of the two possible origins can be identified for any given family.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Karey to the vote.
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What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Karey
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Kareys are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 2,000 people named Karey are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Karey in 2025?
- Karey is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Karey with classmates?
- Karey will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More K names
The most-given names starting with K, all years combined.
Karen#1279 · Kimberly#302 · Kathleen#1150 · Katherine#186 · Kelly#851 · Kathryn#729 · Kayla#364 · Kathy#3249
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Karey? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Karey and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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