Karen is a girl's name of German origin. Its meaning is not recorded in the standard references we check — we would rather tell you that plainly than guess. In 2024 it was given to 184 girls in the United States.
Karen belongs to the German and English & American tradition. Its roots are documented, even though its precise meaning is not recorded in the standard references — an honest gap we prefer to a confident guess.
In the United States, Karen first appears in Social Security records in 1881. It climbed to its best-ever rank of #3 in 1965, and in 2024 184 babies received the name — 987,811 in total since 1880. Those are the official counts, not estimates.
More names from the German shelf:
The meaning of Karen is not recorded in the standard references we check. Rather than repeat an unsourced claim, we leave it open — its German origin is documented, but its exact meaning is not.
Karen is a girl name. In 2024, 184 babies received the name in the US.
Karen comes from the German, English & American, Irish & Celtic and Scandinavian tradition.
Karen first appears in US records in 1881. Its best-ever ranking was #3 in 1965, and 184 babies were given the name in 2024.
Karen is pronounced /ˈkæɹən/ (IPA).
Meaning and origin for this page were checked against this source. US popularity figures are from the Social Security Administration's public baby-names data. If you spot an error, write to hello@namepetal.com — accuracy is the whole point of this site, and corrections are made fast.
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