Karen

Spellings marked ● are how people bearing the name write it in our records, and ○ marks a model's transliteration; click a spelling to open its page.

• English:/kəˈɹɛn/●(recorded in a dictionary) from Wiktionary
• Spanish:/karɛn/○(machine-generated) model-generated

Readings marked model-generated were transcribed by a model; the others are quoted from the dictionary named.

Attested across 15 languages in the etymology graph.

Names that people choosing a name often weigh against Karen, most often first. They share a style rather than an origin.

• Linda
• Sharon
• Jennifer
• Susan
• Jessica

From the names suggested together in public name-advice forums, in English. A list of what people consider, not a measure of how common any name is.

Karen is also recorded as 7 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• Spanish given name72 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Mexico, Argentina, Colombia

  Languages: Spanish, Portuguese, Italian

  Also written Kärën, K'Aren, Káren, Karén, Kären

• a separate name10 spellings in the group

  Also written Karėn, Kâren, Karën, Kårén, Kären

• Swahili given name4 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Kenya, United Kingdom, Philippines

  Languages: Swahili, Southern Sotho, Yoruba

  Also written Karén

• Polish given name33 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Poland, Czechia, United Kingdom

  Languages: Polish, Czech, Croatian

  Also written Карэн, Карени, Карен, Kärën, Kårêń

• Indonesian given name8 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Indonesia, United States, Philippines, Malaysia

  Languages: Indonesian, Malay, Malagasy

  Also written 'Karen, Kärën, Karén, Káren

• Hungarian given name16 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Hungary, United States, United Kingdom, Canada

  Languages: Hungarian, Finnish, Estonian

  Also written Kären, Kärën, Kärên, Kâręn, Kärén

• Greek given name3 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Greece, United States, United Kingdom, Canada

  Also written Καρεν, Karén

92 further groups record this spelling and are not listed here.

Grouping is the name graph's, not a register's: two spellings join a group when the evidence links them, so a group is a claim about the records rather than about the people.

Karen is also recorded in 5 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.

• In French, Danish form of Katherine, from Greek Aikaterinē, origin uncertain.

  as a name·Le grand guide des prénoms (Enfant - Education)

• Danish form of Katherine, first introduced to the English-speaking world by Scandinavian settlers in America. It has been used in Britain only since the 19508, but has become very popular. Karin Swedish form of }Katherine, found as a less common variant of Karen in America and Britain.

  as a name·A concise dictionary of first names

• Czech; from Kara or Kara, derivatives of the personal name Karel (see Charles).

  as a name·Dictionary of American Family Names

• In English, A female given name from Ancient Greek.

  as a word·kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

• In Danish, forma danesa de Catalina; difundido por escandinavos

  as a name·Diccionario etimológico de nombres propios

Ordered by how much of this spelling's record each language holds, so a sense from a language the name is barely used in sits last rather than first.

• Karen Uhlenbeckb. 1942USAmerican mathematician (born 1942)
• Karen Gillanb. 1987GBScottish actress and filmmaker
• Lucy Haleb. 1989USnot in their usual nameAmerican actress and singer

The ten people covered by the most Wikipedia language editions — a proxy for cross-cultural notability, which favours historical and Western figures over equally prominent contemporary ones — shown by birth year. Source: Wikidata (CC0).

A formal English salutation is built on the surname, so it needs a full name — on its own, a first name only supports the informal form.

125 registers and reference works attest this spelling, across 64 countries.

Register rows as of the 2026-10-09 data build.

What does the name Karen mean, and where does it come from?

Form of Katherine, ultimately of Danish origin; now well established in Ireland. Recorded by Irish first names.

What are other forms of the name Karen?

In the etymology graph, Catherine, Kathy and Tina are forms of the same name in other languages.

Is Karen a male or female name?

Karen is used for both men and women, depending on the country. National registers that list names by sex disagree: United States (Census Bureau, 2020): listed as female; Brazil (IBGE, 2022): listed as female; Ecuador (INEC, 2024): listed as female; Poland (dane.gov.pl, 2026): listed under both sexes. We don't publish a percentage split.

Which countries have the most people named Karen?

In the United States, the national register counted about 883 thousand people named Karen, more than in any other country we hold, where it is most often spelled karen. After it come United Kingdom, Czechia, Philippines and Canada; the country table on this page ranks them.

How do you pronounce Karen?

It depends on the language: in English /kəˈɹɛn/ (Wiktionary); in Spanish /karɛn/. Transcriptions are machine-generated except where a dictionary is named.

How common is the name Karen?

In the United States, the national register counted 882,576 people named Karen in 2020, about 1 in 377 residents.

How common is Karen compared with other names?

In the United States, Karen is the 36th most common given name of 2,815,431 given names recorded there.