Karsen
Masculine
Karsen is given to both — 3,472 boys and 1,755 girls since 1880. See Karsen as a girl nameSee other names given to both
Karsen respells Carson, and the Scottish surname behind it may be from Curzon in Normandy or from a place called Acarson — neither is settled.
How old is the name Karsen?
Karsen first appears in US birth records in 1991 — 34 years ago. The typical Karsen is a kid of about 11 — this name's wave is very recent. About 3,400 people named Karsen are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Karsen most popular?
Karsen peaked in 2012, reaching #993 nationally. Today it ranks #1919, 926 places below that high. See the whole 2012 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Carson to Karsen
The story of Karsen
Carson is a documented Galloway surname of unrecovered origin. Kit Carson, the frontier scout, made it widely known in America, and Carson City is named for him. The given name rose sharply from the 1980s for both sexes, and the K respelling appears in the registers in current use.
Meaningscholars disagree
Not established
The surname Carson is documented in Galloway from the fourteenth century, and its origin is genuinely unrecovered. Proposals include the Norman de Courson, a form of Acarson, and a son-of-Carr patronymic. None is established. Honest sources say the meaning is unknown.
How the name formed
- Carson
- Karsen
Related forms: Carson · Karson · Carsyn
Pronouncing Karsen
KAR-sun
Two syllables, stress on the first. All the spellings of the sound 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
- 1991
- Most boys named
- 2018206 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #993reached in 2012
- Change vs 2024
- −8.0%81 in 2025, from 88
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
- Karson in English — spelling variant
- Carsyn in English — spelling variant
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, Louisiana, Florida.
Karsens among us
people named Karsen are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 21,087 born in 2025 was named Karsen
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Karsen
- #1919
- Karsen on the 2025 chart
- #782
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Karsen went to 81 boys in 2025, but Carsen is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 146, which makes it the 782nd most-given boys’ name of the year — 1,137 places above the chart.
- Karsen81
- Carsen65
About 1 boy in 11,699 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 21,087 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 Mauro 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: Mauro climbed just as high around 1974, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Mauro'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 is easing off slowly — about 22% fewer babies a year by 2030 if the trend continues.
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 boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- A documented Galloway surname stands behind it.
- Two clean syllables with no pronunciation risk.
- A Nevada state capital carries the name.
- The meaning is genuinely unrecovered, and honest sources say so.
- At least four spellings of the sound are in common use.
- Carson is the standard spelling and will be assumed.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
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Karsen
Masculine · #1919 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 3,400 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 — 81 of the 146 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Carsen.
- How popular is the name Karsen in 2025?
- Karsen ranks #1919 among US boy names in 2025, with 81 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Karsen?
- About 1 in every 21,087 US boys born in 2025 was named Karsen — 81 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.
Lou#1919 · Hendrick#1919 · Asad#1919 · Elwood#1919 · Mikel#1919 · Azari#1919 · Jawad#1919 · Rumi#1919
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Karsen? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Karsen and another name?
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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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