Karolyne
A feminine form of Charles, meaning "free woman" or "feminine".
Name Census estimates that about 257 living Americans carry the first name Karolyne. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Karolyne today is around 19 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Karolyne births was 2008 (16 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Karolyne. 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
257
~ 1 in 1,333,674 Americans
Peak year
2008
16 babies that year
Average age
19
years old
2021 SSA rank
#16,426
Tracked since 1988
Census
Karolyne in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 328 people with the first name Karolyne, which placed it at #27,731 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
#27,731
National first-name rank
People counted
328
328 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
57.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Karolyne
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Karolyne is White at 57.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (31.4%) and Black (4.9%). 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 Karolyne 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 Karolyne at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White57.3% · 188
- Hispanic or Latino31.4% · 103
- Black or African American4.9% · 16
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.7% · 12
- Two or more races2.1% · 7
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.6% · 2
Popularity
Karolyne: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Karolyne from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 109 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2010s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Karolyne 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 Karolyne during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Karolynes live
Origin
Meaning and history of Karolyne
The name Karolyne is a variant of the more common Caroline, which has its origins in the Germanic name Carolus, meaning "free man". The Carolingian dynasty, which ruled a large part of Europe from the 8th to the 10th century, is named after this root. The name gained popularity during the reign of Charlemagne, the first Holy Roman Emperor.
Caroline was a widely used name during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance period. One of the earliest known references to the name Karolyne can be found in the court records of King Louis IX of France, who ruled from 1226 to 1270. The name was also mentioned in the writings of the medieval poet Dante Alighieri.
In the 16th century, Queen Caroline of Brandenburg (1519-1570) popularized the name further. She was a respected figure in her time and was known for her patronage of the arts and sciences. Another notable Karolyne was Caroline Lucretia Herschel (1750-1848), a German astronomer who discovered several comets and was the first woman to be paid for her contributions to science.
The name Karolyne has been borne by several other prominent figures throughout history. Karolyne Amalie of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel (1633-1688) was a German noblewoman and the wife of King Christian V of Denmark. In the 19th century, Karolyne Pavlova (1807-1893) was a renowned Russian ballerina who helped establish the Romantic style of ballet.
During the 20th century, Karolyne Blackwood (1895-1985) was a pioneering American aviator and one of the first female pilots to hold a commercial pilot's license. Another notable Karolyne was Karolyne Barnett-Clarke (1928-2005), a British actress and singer who appeared in several films and television shows.
While not as common as its parent name Caroline, Karolyne has a rich history and has been borne by notable figures across various fields, including royalty, science, arts, and aviation.
People
Karolyne + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Karolyne 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
Karolyne: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Karolyne?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 257 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Karolyne 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 1,333,674 US residents.
Is Karolyne a common name?
We classify Karolyne as "Very Rare". It ranks above 77.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 261 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Karolyne most popular?
The single biggest year for Karolyne was 2008, when 16 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Karolyne is about 19 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Karolyne in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 328 people with the name Karolyne, or 0.11 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #27,731 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 Karolyne 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 Karolyne?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Karolyne appears almost entirely female. Of the 328 people counted with this name, 99.7% 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 Karolyne?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Karolyne is White at 57.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (31.4%) and Black (4.9%). 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 Karolyne most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Karolyne in the 2020 Census, accounting for 57.3% (188 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 Karolyne in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Karolyne a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Karolyne 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 Karolyne still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Karolyne 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 Karolyne 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 share the name Karolyne?
For a quick modern take, check how many people share the name Karolyne on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org.