Karlyn
A feminine English name derived from a Germanic name meaning "small and feminine".
Name Census estimates that about 2,011 living Americans carry the first name Karlyn. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Karlyn today is around 40 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Karlyn births was 1992 (51 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Karlyn. 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 Karlyn with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
2.0K
~ 1 in 170,440 Americans
Peak year
1992
51 babies that year
Average age
40
years old
1996 SSA rank
#7,559
Tracked since 1924
Census
Karlyn in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 2,287 people with the first name Karlyn, which placed it at #6,870 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
#6,870
National first-name rank
People counted
2.3K
2,287 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.8
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
74.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Karlyn
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Karlyn is White at 74.5%. The next largest groups are Black (12.1%) and Hispanic (6.2%). 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 Karlyn 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 Karlyn at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White74.5% · 1,703
- Black or African American12.1% · 276
- Hispanic or Latino6.2% · 142
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.2% · 74
- Two or more races3.2% · 74
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.8% · 18
Gender
Gender distribution for Karlyn
Out of the 2,375 babies given the name Karlyn 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.
Karlyn as a male name
- Ranked #7,559 in 1996
- 7 male births in 1996
- Peak: 1996 (7 births)
Karlyn as a female name
- Ranked #11,582 in 2024
- 8 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1992 (51 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Karlyn leans strongly female. 2,198 people counted with this name were female (96.1%), compared with 90 male bearers (3.9%).
Popularity
Karlyn: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Karlyn from the 1920s through to the 2020s, spanning 11 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 404 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
Karlyn 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 Karlyn during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Karlyns live
The SSA's state-level files cover 6 states and territories. California, Illinois, Texas recorded the most babies named Karlyn, while Pennsylvania, Missouri, Florida recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 17 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Karlyn
The name Karlyn finds its origins in the Germanic languages, specifically derived from the Old English word "ceorl," which means "free man" or "peasant." It was a popular name among the Anglo-Saxons during the medieval period, often given to commoners or individuals of lower social status.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Karlyn can be found in the Domesday Book, a comprehensive survey of England commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1086. The name appears as "Kærling," which was a variant spelling of the time.
In the 12th century, the name gained popularity among the nobility, with Karlyn de Beaumont, a French noblewoman, being a notable figure. She was born in 1170 and played a significant role in the administration of her family's estates during the reign of King John.
The name Karlyn also appears in several religious texts, including the Lindisfarne Gospels, an illuminated manuscript produced in the late 7th or early 8th century by the monks of Lindisfarne Priory. The name is mentioned in the genealogical records, suggesting its use among early Christians in Britain.
During the Renaissance period, the name Karlyn was associated with the arts and literature. Karlyn von Günterode, a German poet and writer, was born in 1480 and is remembered for her contributions to the development of German poetry and her advocacy for women's education.
In the 18th century, Karlyn Jameson, an English botanist and explorer, gained recognition for her expeditions to South America. Born in 1725, she made significant contributions to the study of plant life in the Amazon region and documented her findings in several published works.
Another notable figure with the name Karlyn was Karlyn Nightingale, a British nurse and social reformer born in 1820. She played a crucial role in improving healthcare practices during the Crimean War and is widely regarded as the founder of modern nursing.
While the name Karlyn has its roots in the Germanic languages, it has been adopted and adapted by various cultures over the centuries, becoming a globally recognized name with a rich historical significance.
People
Karlyn + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Karlyn 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
Karlyn: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Karlyn?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2,011 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Karlyn 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 170,440 US residents.
Is Karlyn a common name?
We classify Karlyn as "Rare". It ranks above 93.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,375 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Karlyn most popular?
The single biggest year for Karlyn was 1992, when 51 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Karlyn is about 40 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Karlyn in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 2,287 people with the name Karlyn, or 0.76 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #6,870 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 Karlyn 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 Karlyn?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Karlyn leans strongly female. 2,198 people counted with this name were female (96.1%), compared with 90 male bearers (3.9%). 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 Karlyn?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Karlyn is White at 74.5%. The next largest groups are Black (12.1%) and Hispanic (6.2%). 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 Karlyn most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Karlyn in the 2020 Census, accounting for 74.5% (1,703 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 Karlyn in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Karlyn a female name?
Yes, 99.7% of people registered as Karlyn 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 Karlyn still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Karlyn 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 Karlyn 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 Karlyn as a first name?
If you just want to know how many Americans are named Karlyn, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.