Carina
A feminine name of Latin origin meaning "beloved".
Name Census estimates that about 15,790 living Americans carry the first name Carina. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Carina today is around 28 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Carina births was 1995 (694 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Carina. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Carina with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
16K
~ 1 in 21,707 Americans
Peak year
1995
694 babies that year
Average age
28
years old
1995 SSA rank
#1,479
Tracked since 1914
Census
Carina in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 18,343 people with the first name Carina, which placed it at #1,689 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#1,689
National first-name rank
People counted
18K
18,343 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
6.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
55.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Carina
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Carina is Hispanic at 55.9%. The next largest groups are White (29.2%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (8.5%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Carina described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Carina at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino55.9% · 10,245
- White29.2% · 5,348
- Asian and Pacific Islander8.5% · 1,555
- Two or more races3.2% · 592
- Black or African American3.0% · 556
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.3% · 47
Gender
Gender distribution for Carina
Out of the 16,395 babies given the name Carina since 1880, 99.8% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Carina as a male name
- Ranked #9,058 in 1995
- 5 male births in 1995
- Peak: 1990 (8 births)
Carina as a female name
- Ranked #1,479 in 2024
- 147 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1995 (689 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Carina appears almost entirely female. Of the 18,338 people counted with this name, 99.9% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Carina: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Carina from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 10 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 5,246 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1990s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Carina by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Carina during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Carinas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 34 states and territories. California, Texas, New York recorded the most babies named Carina, while Oklahoma, Iowa, Hawaii recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 393 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Carina
The name Carina has its origins in Latin, derived from the word "carina," which means "keel" or "the bottom of a ship." This ties the name to the nautical and maritime worlds of ancient Rome. In astronomy, Carina is also the name of a constellation in the southern celestial hemisphere.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Carina can be found in ancient Roman texts, where it was used as a feminine form of the name Carinus, which was a family name. The name gained popularity during the Roman Empire, particularly among families with connections to the sea or navy.
In the 3rd century AD, there was a Roman empress named Carina who was the wife of Emperor Galerius. Her full name was Galeria Valeria Carina, and she was known for her influence and involvement in political affairs during her husband's reign.
During the Renaissance period, the name Carina resurfaced in Italy. One notable figure was Carina Grimaldi, who lived from 1457 to 1512. She was a member of the Grimaldi family, a prominent noble family in Genoa, and was known for her patronage of the arts and her support for artists and writers of the time.
In the 17th century, Carina Loos (1625-1680) was a Dutch botanist and artist, renowned for her intricate botanical illustrations. Her work was highly regarded and contributed to the advancement of scientific knowledge during the era.
Another notable figure was Carina Ari (1784-1855), a Swedish writer and feminist who advocated for women's rights and education. She published several works, including novels and plays, and was a prominent figure in the Swedish literary and intellectual circles of her time.
In the 19th century, Carina Nellie Pierson (1825-1868) was an American author and poet. She wrote several works of fiction and poetry, and her writings often explored themes of nature, love, and the human condition.
People
Carina + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Carina as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with C
Other first names starting with C with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Carina: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Carina?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 15,790 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Carina going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 21,707 US residents.
Is Carina a common name?
We classify Carina as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 16,395 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Carina most popular?
The single biggest year for Carina was 1995, when 694 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Carina is about 28 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Carina in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 18,343 people with the name Carina, or 6.07 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,689 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Carina in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Carina?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Carina appears almost entirely female. Of the 18,338 people counted with this name, 99.9% were female and only a very small share were male. The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Carina?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Carina is Hispanic at 55.9%. The next largest groups are White (29.2%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (8.5%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Carina most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Carina in the 2020 Census, accounting for 55.9% (10,245 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Carina in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Carina a female name?
Yes, 99.8% of people registered as Carina in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Carina still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Carina in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Carina can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people share the name Carina?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.