Karrington
Traditionally an English surname derived from a place name.
Name Census estimates that about 1,692 living Americans carry the first name Karrington. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 82.7% of registrations being female. The average person named Karrington today is around 19 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Karrington births was 1999 (112 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Karrington. 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
1.7K
~ 1 in 202,573 Americans
Peak year
1999
112 babies that year
Average age
19
years old
2024 SSA rank
#7,021
Tracked since 1987
Census
Karrington in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,429 people with the first name Karrington, which placed it at #9,640 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
#9,640
National first-name rank
People counted
1.4K
1,429 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
67.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Karrington
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Karrington is Black at 67.0%. The next largest groups are White (24.8%) and Two or More Races (4.5%). 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 Karrington 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 Karrington at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American67.0% · 958
- White24.8% · 355
- Two or more races4.5% · 64
- Hispanic or Latino2.6% · 37
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.6% · 8
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.5% · 7
Gender
Gender distribution for Karrington
Karrington leans heavily female at 82.7% of total registrations, but 298 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Karrington as a male name
- Ranked #7,021 in 2024
- 12 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1998 (21 births)
Karrington as a female name
- Ranked #7,750 in 2024
- 14 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2000 (99 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Karrington leans strongly female. 1,178 people counted with this name were female (82.7%), compared with 247 male bearers (17.3%).
Popularity
Karrington: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Karrington from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 673 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Karrington 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 Karrington during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Karringtons live
The SSA's state-level files cover 16 states and territories. Texas, North Carolina, Tennessee recorded the most babies named Karrington, while Virginia, Ohio, New York recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 27 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Karrington
The name Karrington is an English given name of uncertain origin. It is believed to have emerged in the late 19th or early 20th century as a blend of the names Karen and Carrington.
Karen is a Danish name derived from the Greek name Katerina, meaning "pure." Carrington, on the other hand, is an English surname derived from the Old English words "cærr" meaning "rocky hill" and "tun" meaning "settlement or town."
The earliest recorded use of the name Karrington dates back to the late 19th century, although specific historical references are scarce. It is possible that the name was coined by combining elements of existing names to create a new, unique name during this period.
One of the earliest notable individuals with the name Karrington was Karrington Symes, a British actress born in 1892. She had a successful career in theatre and film during the early 20th century.
Another historical figure with the name was Karrington Smythe, an American writer and journalist born in 1903. He gained recognition for his works on American history and culture in the mid-20th century.
In the field of sports, Karrington Jones was a notable American football player who played in the National Football League (NFL) during the 1920s. He was born in 1897 and played for various teams, including the Chicago Cardinals.
Karrington Saunders, an American painter and sculptor, was born in 1915. He was recognized for his contributions to the abstract expressionist movement in the mid-20th century.
Lastly, Karrington Welles, a British composer and musician, was born in 1930. He composed several notable works for film and television during the latter half of the 20th century.
While the name Karrington was not widely used historically, these individuals helped to establish its presence and contribute to its overall significance throughout the 20th century.
People
Karrington + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Karrington 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
Karrington: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Karrington?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,692 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Karrington 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 202,573 US residents.
Is Karrington a common name?
We classify Karrington as "Rare". It ranks above 93% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,718 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Karrington most popular?
The single biggest year for Karrington was 1999, when 112 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Karrington 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 Karrington in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,429 people with the name Karrington, or 0.47 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #9,640 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 Karrington 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 Karrington?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Karrington leans strongly female. 1,178 people counted with this name were female (82.7%), compared with 247 male bearers (17.3%). 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 Karrington?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Karrington is Black at 67.0%. The next largest groups are White (24.8%) and Two or More Races (4.5%). 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 Karrington most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Karrington in the 2020 Census, accounting for 67.0% (958 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 Karrington in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Karrington a female name?
Yes, 82.7% of people registered as Karrington 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 Karrington still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Karrington 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 Karrington 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 Karrington?
If you just want to know how many Americans are named Karrington, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.