Karla
A feminine name of uncertain origin, possibly a blend of Charles and Katherine.
Name Census estimates that about 80,533 living Americans carry the first name Karla. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Karla today is around 41 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Karla births was 1964 (2,066 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Karla. 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 Karla with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Karla is used almost entirely for girls, the SSA data does show 309 boys registered with the name since 1880.
People living today
81K
~ 1 in 4,256 Americans
Peak year
1964
2,066 babies that year
Average age
41
years old
2009 SSA rank
#730
Tracked since 1915
Census
Karla in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 113,141 people with the first name Karla, which placed it at #499 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
#499
National first-name rank
People counted
113K
113,141 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
37.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
60.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Karla
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Karla is Hispanic at 60.2%. The next largest groups are White (33.5%) and Black (4.0%). 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 Karla 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 Karla at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino60.2% · 68,071
- White33.5% · 37,937
- Black or African American4.0% · 4,525
- Two or more races1.2% · 1,335
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.7% · 810
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.4% · 463
Gender
Gender distribution for Karla
Out of the 91,550 babies given the name Karla since 1880, 99.7% 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.
Karla as a male name
- Ranked #11,728 in 2009
- 6 male births in 2009
- Peak: 1989 (18 births)
Karla as a female name
- Ranked #730 in 2024
- 385 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1964 (2,060 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Karla appears almost entirely female. Of the 113,141 people counted with this name, 99.8% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Karla: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Karla from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 17,756 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1960s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Karla 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 Karla during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Karlas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. California, Texas, Illinois recorded the most babies named Karla, while Delaware, New Hampshire, Rhode Island recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 1,730 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Karla
The name Karla has its origins in the Germanic languages, derived from the Old Norse word "karl," which means "man" or "free man." It is a feminine form of the masculine name "Karl" or "Charles," which was commonly used throughout Europe during the Middle Ages.
In the 9th century, the name Karla appeared in various Germanic texts and records, often referring to women of noble or royal descent. One of the earliest recorded examples is Karla, the daughter of the Frankish king Louis the German, who lived in the 9th century.
During the Middle Ages, the name Karla gained popularity across Europe, particularly in regions with Germanic influence, such as Germany, Austria, and the Netherlands. It was also adopted in Slavic countries like Poland and the Czech Republic, where it was spelled as "Karla" or "Karola."
Throughout history, several notable women have borne the name Karla. One of the most famous was Karla of Anjou (1265-1323), Queen of Naples and Countess of Provence, who played a significant role in the political struggles of her time. Another remarkable figure was Karla Pavlova (1807-1893), a Russian ballerina celebrated for her technical mastery and expressive performances.
In the 20th century, the name Karla gained wider recognition with individuals like Karla Faye Tucker (1959-1998), an American convicted murderer whose execution sparked debates about capital punishment, and Karla Homolka (born 1970), a Canadian serial killer known for her involvement in the "Kenmore" murders.
It is worth mentioning that the name Karla has also been used in literature and popular culture. For instance, Karla Aragon is a character in the novel "The Unbearable Lightness of Being" by Milan Kundera, while Karla Faye Gholson was a recurring character in the television series "Sex and the City."
People
Karla + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Karla 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
Karla: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Karla?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 80,533 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Karla 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 4,256 US residents.
Is Karla a common name?
We classify Karla as "Uncommon". It ranks above 99.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 91,550 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Karla most popular?
The single biggest year for Karla was 1964, when 2,066 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Karla is about 41 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Karla in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 113,141 people with the name Karla, or 37.46 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #499 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 Karla 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 Karla?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Karla appears almost entirely female. Of the 113,141 people counted with this name, 99.8% 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 Karla?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Karla is Hispanic at 60.2%. The next largest groups are White (33.5%) and Black (4.0%). 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 Karla most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Karla in the 2020 Census, accounting for 60.2% (68,071 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 Karla in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Karla a female name?
Yes, 99.7% of people registered as Karla 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 Karla still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Karla 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 Karla 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 have the name Karla?
If you just want to know how many Americans are named Karla, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.