Karin
Masculine · “pure”
Karin is given to girls far more often — 28,532 girls against 199 boys since 1880. See Karin as a girl name
Karin entered the US charts in 1968, peaked at #3365 in 1968, ranks #10695 in 2025 — given to only a few children a year.
How old is the name Karin?
Karin first appears in US birth records in 1968 — 57 years ago. The typical Karin alive today was born around 2002, making them about 23 years old. About 200 people named Karin are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Karin most popular?
Karin peaked in 1968, reaching #3365 nationally. Today it ranks #10695, 7,330 places below that high. See the whole 1968 chart.
Where it comes from
From Aikaterine to Karin
The story of Karin
Katarina reached Sweden through the medieval church and was shortened to Karin in ordinary use, where it became one of the country's staple women's names — Karin, Kajsa and Katarina all coexist there. Swedish and German emigration brought it to America, and it rose independently in the 1960s and 1970s when Scandinavian names were fashionable, peaking in the mid-1960s.
Meaningscholars disagree
pure
Through Katherine, whose received meaning is the Greek katharos, 'pure'. That reading came later than the name: the earliest form, Aikaterine, is not explained by katharos, and the spelling drifted toward it under the influence of the saint's legend. The original sense is not recovered.
How the name formed
- Aikaterine
- Katarina
- Karin
Related forms: Karin · Karin · Karin · Karen
Pronouncing Karin
KAH-rin
Two syllables, stress on the first. Swedish gives the first vowel a purer quality; American speakers often say it identically to Karen.
Nicknames for Karin
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
- 1968
- Most boys named
- 202215 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #3365reached in 1968
- Change vs 2024
- −25.0%6 in 2025, from 8
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.
Karin in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Karin in Swedish — same name
- Karin in German — same name
- Karin in Norwegian — same name
- Karen in English — spelling variant
Karins among us
people named Karin are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 284,679 born in 2025 was named Karin
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Karin
- #10695
- Karin on the 2025 chart
- #916
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Karin went to 6 boys in 2025, but Carin is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 12, which makes it the 916th most-given boys’ name of the year — 9,779 places above the chart.
- Carin6
- Karin6
About 1 boy in 142,340 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 284,679 for Karin 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 Zale test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Karin's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Zale climbed just as high around 1951, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Zale's path sketches the road Karin is walking now.
Karin 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
Karin beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Karin in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
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Karin
Masculine · #10695 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Karins are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 200 people named Karin are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Karin?
- Karin is one of 2 recorded spellings. Carin is the more common one — 6 births in 2025 against 6 for Karin.
- How popular is the name Karin in 2025?
- Karin ranks #10695 among US boy names in 2025, with 6 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Karin?
- About 1 in every 284,679 US boys born in 2025 was named Karin — 6 in all.
- Will my child share the name Karin with classmates?
- Karin will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Karin
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Dudley#10695 · Dell#10695 · Buford#10695 · Toney#10695 · Allison#10695 · Candido#10695 · Jodie#10695 · Nora#10695
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Karin? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Karin and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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