Karie
Feminine · “free man”
North and South Carolina are named after two English kings called Charles, in Latin — Carolus. Caroline is the same word made feminine. So the states, the name and Charlemagne's title all sit on one Germanic word that meant a free man rather than a noble one.
How old is the name Karie?
Karie first appears in US birth records in 1950 — 75 years ago. The typical Karie alive today was born around 1976, making them about 49 years old. About 5,100 people named Karie are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Karie most popular?
Karie peaked in 1975, reaching #566 nationally. Today it ranks #11932, 11,366 places below that high. See the whole 1975 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From karl to Karie
The story of Karie
The Carolinas were chartered under Charles the First and re-chartered under Charles the Second, and both times the Latin form of the king's name went on the map. Caroline reached Britain as a royal name a century later with the German wife of George the Second, and it was ordinary in English within a generation. Carrie is its clip, and it did something unusual: it became a full name given on its own in enormous numbers in nineteenth-century America, long before pet forms were generally considered acceptable on a birth certificate. That makes it one of the earliest independent nickname-names in English, and every Karie, Carrie and Cari descends from that decision.
Meaning
free man
Through Carrie from Caroline, the feminine of Carolus, which is Latin for Charles, from Germanic karl — a man, and specifically a free man rather than a serf. The K and the -ie ending are American spelling choices and change nothing about the word.
How the name formed
- karl
- Carolus
- Caroline
- Karie
Related forms: Caroline · Karoline
Pronouncing Karie
KAR-ee
Two syllables, stress on the first. Karie, Carrie, Kari and Cari are said identically in most American mouths; only the spelling differs, and it differs four ways.
Nicknames for Karie
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
- 1950
- Most girls named
- 1975293 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #566reached in 1975
- Change vs 2022
- 0.0%7 in 2025, from 7
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.
Karie in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Caroline in French — related form
- Karoline in German — related form
Karies among us
people named Karie are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 229,610 born in 2025 was named Karie
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Karie
- #11932
- Karie on the 2025 chart
- #883
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Karie went to 7 girls in 2025, but Carrie and Karrie are the same name said out loud. Together the 3 spellings went to 77, which makes it the 883rd most-given girls’ name of the year — 11,049 places above the chart.
About 1 girl in 20,874 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 229,610 for Karie 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 Evelyne test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Karie's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Evelyne climbed just as high around 1919, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Evelyne's path sketches the road Karie is walking now.
Karie 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
Karie beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Karie in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- A settled Germanic meaning at the end of a fully documented chain.
- Caroline is available as a formal version, which most pet-form names do not have.
- Two syllables that everyone can say after hearing them once.
- Four spellings of this sound are in common use and none of them is this one.
- It is a pet form used as a full name, which reads as informal on paper.
- It is strongly represented among older generations and places the name in the last century.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Karie 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 Karie? Hide it among decoys and let them guess.
What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Karie
Feminine · #11932 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Karies are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 5,100 people named Karie are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Karie?
- Karie is one of 3 recorded spellings. Carrie is the more common one — 63 births in 2025 against 7 for Karie.
- How popular is the name Karie in 2025?
- Karie ranks #11932 among US girl names in 2025, with 7 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Karie?
- About 1 in every 229,610 US girls born in 2025 was named Karie — 7 in all.
- Will my child share the name Karie with classmates?
- Karie will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Karie
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Vivica#11932 · Josalyn#11932 · Deandra#11932 · Dinora#11932 · Micha#11932 · Mandi#11932 · Milka#11932 · Kesha#11932
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Karie? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Karie 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