Kerem
Masculine · “generosity”
Kerem is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 658 boys against 7 girls since 1880.
Kerem is two names at once: a Turkish word for generosity taken from Arabic, and the Hebrew word for a vineyard. They are unrelated and both are in use.
How old is the name Kerem?
Kerem first appears in US birth records in 1983 — 42 years ago. The typical Kerem is a kid of about 10 — this name's wave is very recent. About 700 people named Kerem are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Kerem most popular?
Kerem peaked in 2016, reaching #2993 nationally. Today it ranks #3658, 665 places below that high. See the whole 2016 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From karam to Kerem
The story of Kerem
Arabic karam gave Turkish kerem, and the folk romance of Kerem and Aslı — a love story told across Anatolia and the Caucasus — fixed the name in Turkish tradition. Quite separately, Hebrew kerem names a vineyard, and modern Israeli naming took it as a men's name in the twentieth century along with other plain landscape words. Both lines appear in American records.
Meaningscholars disagree
generosity, or vineyard
Turkish kerem is from Arabic karam, generosity or nobility, the same root behind Karim. Hebrew kerem is a vineyard and appears in the Hebrew Bible and in place names. The two are separate words in separate language families.
How the name formed
- karam
- Kerem
Related forms: Kerem · Karam · Kerem
Pronouncing Kerem
KEH-rem
Two syllables, first stressed. Hebrew gives keh-REM, with the stress at the end.
Nicknames for Kerem
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
- 1983
- Most boys named
- 201639 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2993reached in 2016
- Change vs 2024
- −23.1%30 in 2025, from 39
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.
Kerem in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Kerem in Turkish — same name
- Karam in Arabic — related form
- Kerem in Hebrew — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, New York.
Kerems among us
people named Kerem are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 56,936 born in 2025 was named Kerem
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 Aly test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Kerem's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Aly climbed just as high around 2000, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Aly's path sketches the road Kerem is walking now.
Kerem 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 Kerem is headed
Kerem 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.
Kerem beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Kerem in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Two settled meanings from unrelated languages, both concrete and good.
- Five letters and two syllables, easy to write and to say.
- Very widely used in Turkey, so it has a large community behind it.
- The stress differs between the Turkish and Hebrew readings.
- The two traditions behind it mean entirely different things.
- It is close to Karim and Kareem in an English ear.
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What they receive
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Kerem
Masculine · #3658 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Kerems are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 700 people named Kerem are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Kerem in 2025?
- Kerem ranks #3658 among US boy names in 2025, with 30 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Kerem?
- About 1 in every 56,936 US boys born in 2025 was named Kerem — 30 in all.
- Will my child share the name Kerem with classmates?
- Kerem will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Kerem
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Jimmie#3658 · Mckinley#3658 · Menno#3658 · Claudio#3658 · Ezekial#3658 · Brandt#3658 · Benuel#3658 · Gustav#3658
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Kerem? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Kerem and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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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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