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Karis

Feminine · “grace”

Karis is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 6,744 girls against 104 boys since 1880.

1935high 2012
#2017 in the U.S.given to only a few children a year
rare94 girls in 2025

Karis is grace in Greek — charis, the word the New Testament uses for grace, and the root of charisma and charity.

How old is the name Karis?

Karis first appears in US birth records in 1935 — 90 years ago. The typical Karis alive today was born around 2007, making them about 18 years old. About 6,600 people named Karis are estimated to be alive in the US today.

When was the name Karis most popular?

Karis peaked in 2012, reaching #859 nationally. Today it ranks #2017, 1,158 places below that high. See the whole 2012 chart.

Compare this nameMore “K” names

Lists built from the same records:

I

Where it comes from

The story of Karis

The Charites were the three Graces of Greek myth, and charis meant a gift freely given before Paul made it the central term of Christian theology. Eucharist means 'good grace', a thanksgiving. Karis and Charis both appear in American records, and Karis is in current use.

Meaning

grace, favor

From the Greek charis, 'grace', 'favor' or 'kindness', which the New Testament uses for divine grace throughout. The same root gives charisma, eucharist and, through Latin caritas, charity. The K spelling is an English simplification. The Greek is ordinary and undisputed.

How the name formed

  1. charis
  2. Charis
  3. Karis

Related forms: Χάρις · Charis · Charissa

Pronouncing Karis

KAR-iss

Two syllables, stress on the first. Charis with a ch is said the same way in English.

Nicknames for Karis

Moderate

KariThe front of the name, and a name in its own right in Scandinavian use
RisThe back of the name, used inside families rather than generally
II

What the data says

The long climb, and where it stands now

GIRLS NAMED · 1935–202531015503109419352025

US babies named Karis per year from 1935 to 2025
AVERAGE RANK BY DECADE#1#10#100#1000#8591930s2020s

The same years in position rather than babies

First recorded
1935
Most girls named
2012310 — the highest on record
Peak rank
#859reached in 2012
Change vs 2023
−2.1%94 in 2025, from 96
Karis sits in the rare tail. Its best year on record was 2012, with 310 girls. Today it is given to few enough children that it does not enter the ranked charts at all.

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.

Karis in other languages

The same name elsewhere

  • Χάρις in Greek — transliteration
  • Charis in English — spelling variant
  • Charissa in Greek — related form

Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, California, Georgia.

Kariss among us

6,600

people named Karis are estimated to be alive in the US today

About 1 girl in 17,099 born in 2025 was named Karis

Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method

Spellings of Karis

#2017
Karis on the 2025 chart
#800
counting every spelling

The SSA counts spellings, not names. Karis went to 94 girls in 2025, but Carys, Caris and Kharis and the rest below are the same name said out loud. Together the 5 spellings went to 160, which makes it the 800th most-given girls’ name of the year — 1,217 places above the chart.

About 1 girl in 10,045 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 17,099 for Karis 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

III

Is it right for you

The Tawny test

Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Karis's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Tawny climbed just as high around 1989, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Tawny's path sketches the road Karis is walking now.

40%chance Karis will feel “very 2010s” by 2040
Karis, aligned on its peakTawny· peak 1989not yet written
#1#10#100#1000peak-40 yrs+40 yrsTawny · #14669Karis today
Karis today is about where Tawny stood in 2002 — 13 years past a #859-sized peak. By 2017, Tawny had settled around #11626.
Ages quietlysteadyDates fast

Karis 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

Where Karis is headed

19352030

US babies named Karis per year, 1935 to 2025, with a projection to 2030

Karis is easing off slowly — about 20% fewer babies a year by 2030 if the trend continues.

Cooling-20% by 2030projected around #2,504 in 2030

High confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.

A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.

Karis beside its neighbors

The names ranked closest to Karis in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.

Karisthis name94#2017Naima94#2017Diamond94#2017Kylani94#2017Bryn94#2017

US girls given each name in 2025.

The trade-off

Practical strengths
  • That charisma, charity and eucharist all descend from the same word is a first-rate etymology.
  • The grace meaning is transparent and undisputed.
  • Two clean syllables with no pronunciation risk.
What to consider
  • Charis is the standard spelling and looks quite different.
  • Karis and Carys are close in sound but Carys is Welsh and unrelated.
  • It will need spelling out every time.

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What they receive

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Karis

Feminine · #2017 in the U.S.

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Frequently asked

How many Kariss are there in the world?
No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 6,600 people named Karis are estimated to be alive in the US today.
How do you spell Karis?
Karis is the most-used spelling in US records — 94 of the 160 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Carys, Caris, Kharis and Karys.
How popular is the name Karis in 2025?
Karis ranks #2017 among US girl names in 2025, with 94 babies given the name.
How rare is the name Karis?
About 1 in every 17,099 US girls born in 2025 was named Karis — 94 in all.
Will my child share the name Karis with classmates?
Karis will almost certainly be the only one in school.

Ranked beside Karis

Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.

Naima#2017 · Diamond#2017 · Kylani#2017 · Bryn#2017 · Kamilah#2017 · Goldy#2017 · Alyna#2017 · Melodie#2017

Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Karis? See the current top 100.

Choosing between Karis and another name?

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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology

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