Karlo
A masculine variant of the name Carl, of Germanic origin meaning "free man".
Name Census estimates that about 1,008 living Americans carry the first name Karlo. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Karlo today is around 23 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Karlo births was 2010 (39 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Karlo. 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 Karlo with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
1.0K
~ 1 in 340,034 Americans
Peak year
2010
39 babies that year
Average age
23
years old
2024 SSA rank
#3,415
Tracked since 1959
Census
Karlo in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,260 people with the first name Karlo, which placed it at #10,531 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
#10,531
National first-name rank
People counted
1.3K
1,260 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
50.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Karlo
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Karlo is Hispanic at 50.2%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (21.6%) and White (20.4%). 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 Karlo 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 Karlo at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino50.2% · 632
- Asian and Pacific Islander21.6% · 272
- White20.4% · 257
- Black or African American5.8% · 73
- Two or more races1.5% · 19
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.6% · 7
Popularity
Karlo: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Karlo from the 1950s through to the 2020s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 272 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Karlo remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Karlo 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 Karlo during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Karlos live
The SSA's state-level files cover 4 states and territories. California, Texas, New York recorded the most babies named Karlo, while Florida, New York, Texas recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 97 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Karlo
The name Karlo is derived from the Germanic name Karl, which is a masculine given name that originated from the common Germanic word "karl", meaning "man" or "husband". This name has been in use since the Middle Ages and has its roots in various Germanic languages, including Old English, Old Norse, and Old High German.
The earliest recorded use of the name Karl can be traced back to the 8th century when it was borne by the Frankish ruler Charlemagne, also known as Charles the Great (742-814). Charlemagne was a powerful and influential figure who ruled much of Western Europe and played a significant role in the spread of Christianity and the preservation of classical literature.
Another notable historical figure with the name Karl was Karl Marx (1818-1883), the German philosopher, economist, and revolutionary socialist who developed the theory of Marxism, which became a major influence on modern political and economic thought.
In the realm of art and literature, the name Karlo was borne by the Italian writer and poet Carlo Goldoni (1707-1793), who was a prominent figure in the development of Italian comedy and is considered a pioneer of modern drama.
The name Karlo also has a connection to the world of music, with the famous German composer Carl Maria von Weber (1786-1826) being a notable bearer of the name. He is renowned for his operas, including "Der Freischütz" and "Euryanthe", which were instrumental in the development of German Romantic opera.
Another notable figure with the name Karlo was the Austrian physicist and philosopher Carl Freiherr von Reichenbach (1788-1869), who made significant contributions to the fields of chemistry, magnetism, and optics, and is best known for his research on the phenomenon he called the "Odic force".
While the name Karlo is not as common as its original form Karl, it has been used throughout history in various cultures and languages, carrying with it a rich heritage and association with notable figures who have left their mark in various fields.
People
Karlo + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Karlo 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
Karlo: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Karlo?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,008 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Karlo 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 340,034 US residents.
Is Karlo a common name?
We classify Karlo as "Rare". It ranks above 90.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,031 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Karlo most popular?
The single biggest year for Karlo was 2010, when 39 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Karlo is about 23 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Karlo in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,260 people with the name Karlo, or 0.42 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #10,531 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 Karlo 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 Karlo?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Karlo leans strongly male. 1,210 people counted with this name were male (96.3%), compared with 47 female bearers (3.7%). 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 Karlo?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Karlo is Hispanic at 50.2%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (21.6%) and White (20.4%). 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 Karlo most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Karlo in the 2020 Census, accounting for 50.2% (632 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 Karlo in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Karlo a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Karlo in the SSA data are male. 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 Karlo still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Karlo 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 Karlo 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 Karlo?
If you just want to know how many people have the name Karlo, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.