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Meaning of the nameKaren

Karen is a feminine name, the medieval Danish form of Catarina; the meaning of the Greek root is debated.

Meaning

The meaning of Karen is not known for certain. No reliable source documents it, so we give none; below are the origin of the spelling and the official figures.

People (2022)
77,698
Rank in Brazil
#395
Median age
25 years
2010 Census
68,531
people

Karen in the 2022 Census

People with the first name Karen, by the decade they were born. In the chart, 70 = the 1970s and 20+ = 2020 to 2022. The largest group was born in the 1990s (25,996 people).

77,367 women 331 men

Source: IBGE, 2022 Demographic Census, Nomes no Brasil. The census counts the first name of people alive in 2022; small counts are not published, and the first group covers everyone born before 1940. How to read these data.

Where the name Karen is most common

States with the highest share of people named Karen in the population, in the 2022 Census.

  1. São Paulo 0.055%
  2. Amazonas 0.053%
  3. Rio Grande do Sul 0.052%
  4. Rio de Janeiro 0.050%
  5. Distrito Federal 0.049%
All states
StatePeople% of population
São Paulo24,5430.055%
Minas Gerais8,6850.042%
Rio de Janeiro8,0070.050%
Rio Grande do Sul5,6460.052%
Paraná5,0490.044%
Santa Catarina2,5550.034%
Bahia2,4350.017%
Pará2,3290.029%
Amazonas2,0750.053%
Goiás2,0680.029%
Maranhão1,6950.025%
Ceará1,6750.019%
Distrito Federal1,3720.049%
Pernambuco1,3440.015%
Espírito Santo1,2470.033%
Mato Grosso do Sul1,2470.045%
Mato Grosso1,2170.033%
Rio Grande do Norte6700.020%
Piauí6270.019%
Paraíba5970.015%
Sergipe5780.026%
Rondônia4860.031%
Alagoas3910.013%
Roraima3070.048%
Tocantins3000.020%
Amapá2930.040%
Acre2600.031%

States with fewer than 15 people with the name are not shown: IBGE does not publish those counts.

About the name Karen

Wiktionary traces Karen to Danish Karen, a medieval variant of Katharina, and Behind the Name calls it a short Danish form of Katherine, with Catarina and Cátia as related Portuguese forms. The etymology of Katherine is debated: Behind the Name gathers Greek hypotheses, such as hekateros, 'each of the two', and a Coptic one, and recalls that in early Christianity the name was associated with Greek katharos, 'pure'. The Dicionário de Nomes em Uso no Brasil records Caren, Carem and Karem among the spelling variants of Karen. In the 2022 Census, IBGE recorded 77,698 people named Karen, with a median age of 25.

Written with K, it is the most recorded spelling in the group and the same as the Danish name.

Other spellings of Karen

SpellingPeople (2022)
Karen77,698
Caren8,266

Sources

  1. Wiktionary: Karen · en.wiktionary.org · origin
  2. Behind the Name: Karen · behindthename.com · origin
  3. Behind the Name: Katherine · behindthename.com · origin
  4. Wiktionary: Caren · en.wiktionary.org · spelling
  5. Dicionário de Nomes em Uso no Brasil: Karen · dicionariodenomesdobrasil.com.br · spelling

Questions about the name Karen

What does the name Karen mean?

The meaning of Karen is not known for certain: no reliable source documents it. So we give no meaning; the page shows the origin of the spelling and the official figures.

How many people are named Karen in Brazil?

IBGE's 2022 Census recorded 77,698 people with the first name Karen, which ranks it number 395 among the country's names. The largest group was born in the 1990s.

Is Karen a boy's or a girl's name?

Karen is a female name: in the 2022 Census, 77,367 women and 331 men had this name.

What is the origin of the name Karen?

Karen is a name of Greek origin. The sources are listed at the end of the page.

In which Brazilian state is Karen most common?

Proportionally, in São Paulo: 0.055% of the state's population is named Karen (24,543 people), according to the 2022 Census.

What are the other spellings of Karen?

Caren. IBGE counts each spelling separately.

More names of Greek origin

See all

Spotted a mistake? Report a correction for Karen with a source. See the methodology.