Karsen
Feminine
Karsen is given to both — 1,755 girls and 3,472 boys since 1880. See Karsen as a boy nameSee other names given to both
Karsen is a respelling of Carson, a Scottish and Irish surname whose origin is genuinely argued.
How old is the name Karsen?
Karsen first appears in US birth records in 1989 — 36 years ago. The typical Karsen alive today was born around 2007, making them about 18 years old. About 1,700 people named Karsen are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Karsen most popular?
Karsen peaked in 2000, reaching #1885 nationally. Today it ranks #4460, 2,575 places below that high. See the whole 2000 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
Our story of Karsen
Ours, offered as ours. Carson is an unusual surname in that it is common, well recorded and completely unexplained — the Scottish and Irish families using it appear from the fourteenth century with no clear source, and three separate derivations have been argued without resolution. Kit Carson made it American. Its move into girls' naming after 2000 brought the k spelling with it, and the k is doing what it always does: marking the name as chosen.
Meaningscholars disagree
Not established
Carson's derivation is unsettled: readings from a place name in Cumberland, from the Norman de Courson, and from a Gaelic personal name have all been offered. None is established. The k spelling is a modern American choice.
Pronouncing Karsen
KAR-sen
Two syllables, first stressed. Karsen and Carson are said identically.
Nicknames for Karsen
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
- 1989
- Most girls named
- 200397 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1885reached in 2000
- Change vs 2024
- −11.4%31 in 2025, from 35
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.
Karsen in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Carson in English — spelling variant
- Carsan in Scots — spelling variant
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, North Carolina, California.
Karsens among us
people named Karsen are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 51,847 born in 2025 was named Karsen
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Karsen
- #4460
- Karsen on the 2025 chart
- #899
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Karsen went to 31 girls in 2025, but Carsen is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 61, which makes it the 899th most-given girls’ name of the year — 3,561 places above the chart.
- Karsen31
- Carsen30
About 1 girl in 26,349 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 51,847 for Karsen 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 Darthy test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Karsen's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Darthy climbed just as high around 1927, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Darthy's path sketches the road Karsen is walking now.
Karsen 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 Karsen is headed
Karsen should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
Medium 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.
Karsen beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Karsen in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- A documented Scottish and Irish surname with a long record.
- Read correctly on sight by every English speaker.
- Six letters and two syllables, quick to write.
- Carson is the standard spelling and is more often read as a boys' name.
- The meaning is genuinely unknown despite the surname's frequency.
- Karsen, Carsen and Carson are all in use and only Carson is common.
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What they receive
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Karsen
Feminine · #4460 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Karsens are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,700 people named Karsen are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Karsen?
- Karsen is the most-used spelling in US records — 31 of the 61 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Carsen.
- How popular is the name Karsen in 2025?
- Karsen ranks #4460 among US girl names in 2025, with 31 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Karsen?
- About 1 in every 51,847 US girls born in 2025 was named Karsen — 31 in all.
- Will my child share the name Karsen with classmates?
- Karsen will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Karsen
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Jayce#4460 · Nikita#4460 · Magali#4460 · Emari#4460 · Rilyn#4460 · Danyla#4460 · Lynleigh#4460 · Mandy#4460
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Karsen? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Karsen and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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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
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