Karianne
Feminine
Kari is the wind. In Norse myth he is one of three brothers — wind, fire and sea — sons of a giant, and the Old Norse word behind the name means a gust or a squall. It is also, quite separately, the ordinary Norwegian short form of Katherine, which is what almost every modern Kari actually is.
How old is the name Karianne?
Karianne first appears in US birth records in 1967 — 58 years ago. The typical Karianne alive today was born around 1986, making them about 39 years old. About 1,000 people named Karianne are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Karianne most popular?
Karianne peaked in 1971, reaching #2247 nationally. See the whole 1971 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From an Old Norse word for a gust of wind to Karianne
The story of Karianne
The three brothers turn up in a genealogy of giants that survives in a late Icelandic source: Kari the wind, Logi the fire and Aegir the sea, sons of a figure called Fornjot. Logi appears in one of the best stories in the whole literature — an eating contest against Loki, which Loki loses because his opponent is fire itself and eats the bones and the trough as well. The wind brother gets less to do, but his name is still the ordinary Norwegian word for a squall.
Meaningnot established
Not established
Two unrelated sources land on the same four letters. The Norwegian name is Katherine worn down through Scandinavian speech; the mythological figure is a personification of wind from a completely different root. The second half of this name is Anne, which was the all-purpose second element of American naming for most of a century and adds a syllable rather than a meaning.
How the name formed
- an Old Norse word for a gust of wind
- Katherine worn down to Kari in Norwegian
- Anne becomes the default second element in American naming
- Karianne appears in the record in the 1960s
- peaks at the start of the 1970s
Related forms: Kari · Karianna · Kari
Pronouncing Karianne
karr-ee-AN
Three syllables with the stress at the back. Norwegian says the first half KAH-ree, with a fuller vowel than English gives it.
Nicknames for Karianne
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
- 1967
- Most girls named
- 198636 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2247reached in 1971
- Change vs 2015
- −16.7%5 in 2016, from 6
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.
Karianne in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Kari in Norwegian — related form
- Karianna in English — spelling variant
- Kari in Old Norse — related form
Kariannes among us
people named Karianne 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
Karianne 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
- Both halves are complete names and both are entirely familiar.
- It is read correctly at sight by anybody.
- The Norse association is a good one for a child who likes that sort of thing.
- It will be heard as Carrie Ann and written as two words constantly.
- The two possible origins of the front half are unrelated.
- It is closely dated to the middle decades of the last century.
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Karianne
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Kariannes are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,000 people named Karianne are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Karianne in 2025?
- Karianne is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Karianne with classmates?
- Karianne 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 Karianne? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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