Karigan
A name of uncertain origin, possibly meaning "small rock" or "little one".
Name Census estimates that about 315 living Americans carry the first name Karigan. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Karigan today is around 20 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Karigan births was 1996 (28 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Karigan. 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.
People living today
315
~ 1 in 1,088,109 Americans
Peak year
1996
28 babies that year
Average age
20
years old
2021 SSA rank
#12,826
Tracked since 1995
Census
Karigan in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 278 people with the first name Karigan, which placed it at #31,017 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
#31,017
National first-name rank
People counted
278
278 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
89.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Karigan
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Karigan is White at 89.6%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (4.7%) and Black (3.6%). 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 Karigan 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 Karigan at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White89.6% · 249
- Two or more races4.7% · 13
- Black or African American3.6% · 10
- Hispanic or Latino1.4% · 4
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.7% · 2
Popularity
Karigan: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Karigan from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 135 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Karigan 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 Karigan during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Karigans live
Origin
Meaning and history of Karigan
The name Karigan is believed to have its origins in ancient Celtic cultures, with roots dating back to the early medieval period. It is thought to be derived from the Gaelic word "caraid," which means "friend" or "beloved." This name was particularly prevalent among the Picts, a group of Celtic-speaking people who inhabited parts of what is now eastern and northern Scotland.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Karigan can be found in the Pictish Chronicle, a historical record dating back to the 9th century. This text mentions a Pictish king named Karigan mac Fergus, who ruled over the Kingdom of Fortriu in the late 8th century. While the details of his reign are scarce, his inclusion in this ancient document suggests that the name held significance within Pictish society.
Throughout the Middle Ages, the name Karigan appeared sporadically in various regions of Scotland and Ireland, often associated with families of Celtic descent. One notable figure was Karigan of Iona, a 12th-century monk and scholar who resided on the island of Iona and contributed to the preservation of Celtic literature and manuscripts.
In the 16th century, a Scottish noblewoman named Karigan Douglas gained recognition for her involvement in the Protestant Reformation. Born in 1515, she was a staunch supporter of the reformist movement and played a pivotal role in the spread of Protestantism in Scotland.
Another historical figure bearing the name Karigan was Karigan O'Neill, an Irish chieftain who lived in the late 16th century. He was known for his fierce resistance against English colonization efforts in Ulster and his efforts to preserve Irish culture and traditions.
In more recent times, the name Karigan has been carried by individuals such as Karigan Quirk, a 19th-century Irish novelist and poet, and Karigan MacLeod, a 20th-century Scottish artist renowned for her landscape paintings depicting the rugged beauty of the Scottish Highlands.
While the name Karigan may not be as widely used today as it once was, its Celtic roots and historical significance remain ingrained in its meaning and legacy. The name continues to evoke a sense of friendship, affection, and connection to the rich cultural heritage of the Celtic peoples.
People
Karigan + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Karigan as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with K
Other first names starting with K with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Karigan: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Karigan?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 315 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Karigan 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 1,088,109 US residents.
Is Karigan a common name?
We classify Karigan as "Very Rare". It ranks above 79.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 320 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Karigan most popular?
The single biggest year for Karigan was 1996, when 28 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Karigan is about 20 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Karigan in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 278 people with the name Karigan, or 0.09 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #31,017 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 Karigan 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 Karigan?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Karigan appears almost entirely female. Of the 276 people counted with this name, 99.3% 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 Karigan?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Karigan is White at 89.6%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (4.7%) and Black (3.6%). 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 Karigan most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Karigan in the 2020 Census, accounting for 89.6% (249 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 Karigan in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Karigan a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Karigan 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 Karigan still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Karigan 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 Karigan 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 Americans are named Karigan?
See how many people have the name Karigan on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.