Karine
Feminine
Karin is what Scandinavia did to Katherine. The long Greek name arrived with the church, lost its opening syllable and most of its middle, and came out as two syllables with a hard k at the front — which is about as thorough a shortening as a name can survive. Karine adds a French ending to that, and reached America from two directions at once.
How old is the name Karine?
Karine first appears in US birth records in 1917 — 108 years ago. The typical Karine alive today was born around 1982, making them about 43 years old. About 1,100 people named Karine are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Karine most popular?
Karine peaked in 1966, reaching #1532 nationally. Today it ranks #13208, 11,676 places below that high. See the whole 1966 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Aikaterine to Karine
The story of Karine
Catherine reached Scandinavia in the Middle Ages and became Karin in Swedish and Norwegian — one of the standard women's names of that region ever since. French, meanwhile, produced Karine independently, and Norway adopted the French form back alongside its own. Both arrived in American records: Karine appears from the 1910s and rises in the 1960s, and it is carried both by families with Scandinavian connections and by families reaching for something French. The two streams are invisible in the data and quite distinct in the households.
Meaningnot established
Not established
The Greek Aikaterine, at the bottom of this name, has never been explained. The connection to katharos, pure, is a medieval reinterpretation that changed the spelling of the name across Europe and is not evidence of anything. Karin and Karine inherit that blank, and the honest answer is that a name carried by tens of millions has no established meaning.
How the name formed
- Aikaterine
- Katharina
- Karin
- Karine
Related forms: Karine · Karine · Karin · Karina · Karine
Pronouncing Karine
kah-REEN
Two syllables with the stress at the back, following the French. Norwegian says it in three — kah-REE-neh — sounding the final e. Americans occasionally produce kuh-RYNE, rhyming with fine, which neither language supports.
Nicknames for Karine
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
- 1917
- Most girls named
- 196742 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1532reached in 1966
- Change vs 2022
- −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.
Karine in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Karine in Norwegian — same name
- Karine in French — same name
- Karin in Swedish — related form
- Karina in Russian — related form
- Karine in Armenian — same name
Karines among us
people named Karine are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 267,878 born in 2025 was named Karine
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Arma test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Karine's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Arma climbed just as high around 1946, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Arma's path sketches the road Karine is walking now.
Karine 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
Karine beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Karine in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- It is standard in French, Norwegian and Armenian, so it has real standing in three traditions.
- Kari and Rina are both usable and belong to different worlds.
- Six letters, two syllables, and no sound English lacks.
- The name family behind it is the largest in Europe after John's.
- Karin, Karina and Corinne all sit close by and will be written instead.
- The number of syllables differs between French and Norwegian, so relatives may not agree.
- Its meaning cannot honestly be given, and the one printed everywhere is a medieval guess.
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What they receive
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Karine
Feminine · #13208 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Karines are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,100 people named Karine are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Karine in 2025?
- Karine ranks #13208 among US girl names in 2025, with 6 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Karine?
- About 1 in every 267,878 US girls born in 2025 was named Karine — 6 in all.
- Will my child share the name Karine with classmates?
- Karine will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Karine
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
John#13208 · Vinnie#13208 · Margery#13208 · Jossie#13208 · Tressa#13208 · Erie#13208 · Bernadine#13208 · Euna#13208
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Karine? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Karine and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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