Karlena
A feminine name derived from Charles, meaning "free woman" or "petite woman".
Name Census estimates that about 251 living Americans carry the first name Karlena. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Karlena today is around 35 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Karlena births was 1983 (14 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Karlena. 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
251
~ 1 in 1,365,555 Americans
Peak year
1983
14 babies that year
Average age
35
years old
2017 SSA rank
#14,989
Tracked since 1956
Census
Karlena in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 347 people with the first name Karlena, which placed it at #26,696 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
#26,696
National first-name rank
People counted
347
347 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
57.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Karlena
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Karlena is White at 57.6%. The next largest groups are Black (18.2%) and Hispanic (10.4%). 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 Karlena 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 Karlena at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White57.6% · 200
- Black or African American18.2% · 63
- Hispanic or Latino10.4% · 36
- Two or more races7.8% · 27
- American Indian and Alaska Native3.5% · 12
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.6% · 9
Popularity
Karlena: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Karlena from the 1950s through to the 2010s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 84 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1990s peak, Karlena remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Karlena 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 Karlena during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Karlena
The name Karlena is a variation of the Germanic name Karla, which is derived from the word "karl," meaning "free man" or "husband." It is believed to have originated in the Middle Ages, around the 9th to 11th centuries, when names with Germanic roots were common in many parts of Europe.
Karlena can be traced back to regions where Germanic tribes and cultures had a significant influence, such as present-day Germany, Austria, and parts of Scandinavia. The name may have been initially used by noble families or those of higher social status, as the word "karl" was often associated with a free or liberated man.
While there are no notable historical references to the specific name Karlena in ancient texts or religious scriptures, the root word "karl" has been found in various medieval records and documents. It was a popular element in Germanic names during that period, reflecting the cultural and linguistic traditions of the time.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Karlena can be traced back to a noblewoman named Karlena von Hessen, who lived in the 13th century and was a member of the prominent Hesse family in what is now modern-day Germany. Another notable figure was Karlena Müller, a German painter and artist who lived in the 16th century and was renowned for her intricate portraits of nobility.
In the 17th century, Karlena Schröder was a German composer and musician who gained recognition for her contributions to sacred music and her work in the court of the Elector of Saxony. Around the same time, Karlena von Bismarck, a member of the influential Bismarck family, was known for her philanthropic efforts and her support of various charitable causes in Prussia.
In more recent history, Karlena Schmidtová was a Czech artist and sculptor who lived in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Her works were celebrated for their intricate details and their depiction of everyday life and the human form.
While the name Karlena has its roots in Germanic cultures, it has been adapted and used in various other regions and languages over the centuries, reflecting the influence and spread of different cultures and naming traditions.
People
Karlena + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Karlena 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
Karlena: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Karlena?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 251 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Karlena 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 1,365,555 US residents.
Is Karlena a common name?
We classify Karlena as "Very Rare". It ranks above 77.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 266 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Karlena most popular?
The single biggest year for Karlena was 1983, when 14 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Karlena is about 35 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Karlena in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 347 people with the name Karlena, or 0.11 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #26,696 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 Karlena 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 Karlena?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Karlena appears almost entirely female. Of the 340 people counted with this name, 100.0% 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 Karlena?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Karlena is White at 57.6%. The next largest groups are Black (18.2%) and Hispanic (10.4%). 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 Karlena most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Karlena in the 2020 Census, accounting for 57.6% (200 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 Karlena in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Karlena a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Karlena 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 Karlena still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Karlena 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 Karlena 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 are named Karlena?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.