Karleen
Feminine · “free man”
Karleen is the plainest spelling in a family that tends to decoration. Its relatives reach for French endings and Italian ones and doubled letters; this one writes the sound with the most ordinary letters English has and leaves it there.
How old is the name Karleen?
Karleen first appears in US birth records in 1914 — 111 years ago. The typical Karleen alive today was born around 1960, making them about 65 years old. About 2,100 people named Karleen are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Karleen most popular?
Karleen peaked in 1937, reaching #1085 nationally. See the whole 1937 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From karl to Karleen
The story of Karleen
The name arrived twice over. The base came with German and Scandinavian immigration in the nineteenth century, spelled with a k because that is how those languages write it. The ending was supplied by English-speaking neighbors, who had a productive suffix to hand and applied it to whatever was in the room. That is a common shape for American names of the period: an immigrant base and a native ending, joined by people who had one of each. The record shows Karleen, Karlene, Carleen and Carlene charting together, differing only in which language supplied which half.
Meaning
free man
The Germanic root behind the family meant a man of no particular rank. The ending is a later addition and carries no sense of its own.
How the name formed
- karl
- Karl
- Karleen
Related forms: Carleen
Pronouncing Karleen
kar-LEEN
Two syllables with the weight at the back. The een and ene endings are identical in sound.
Nicknames for Karleen
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
- 1914
- Most girls named
- 196474 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1085reached in 1937
- Change vs 2020
- 0.0%5 in 2024, from 5
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.
Karleen in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Carleen in English — spelling variant
Karleens among us
people named Karleen 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
Karleen 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 familiar, so the name is read correctly at sight.
- The ee ending removes any question about the vowel.
- The k marks a northern European line and is a small piece of family history in itself.
- Karlene, Carleen and Carlene are all in the record and will be confused constantly.
- The ending places the name firmly in the first half of the twentieth century.
- It reads as constructed rather than inherited, which it is.
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Karleen
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Karleens are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 2,100 people named Karleen are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Karleen in 2025?
- Karleen is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Karleen with classmates?
- Karleen 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 Karleen? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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