Karl Boy
How popular is Karl?
#1,585 boy name in 2025
107 baby boys were named Karl in the US in 2025, making it the 1585th most popular boy name.
Karl popularity over time
Boys Girls
| Rank in 2025 | #1,585 for boys (▲ 100 from 2024) |
|---|---|
| Babies in 2025 | 107 boys |
| 10-year trend | Falling (-42% babies vs 2015) |
| Earlier ranks | #1,075 in 2015, #1,568 in 2020 |
| Peak year | 1960 (2,594 boys) |
| Highest rank | #135 in 1960 (2 years at that rank) |
| First recorded | 1880 |
| Boys vs girls (last 10 years) | 100% boys, 0% girls |
| Chance a classmate shares it | 0.1% in a class of 25 kids born in 2025 |
Karl counting every spelling
Social Security counts each spelling as its own name. Adding together the spellings that sound alike, the Carl family of names ranked #788 for boys in 2025 (#757 the year before), with 294 babies in all.
| Spelling | Boys in 2025 | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Carl | 187 | 64% |
| Karl | 107 | 36% |
Spellings are grouped by how they sound, using our own rules, so a few groupings may not match how your family says the name.
Where Karl is most popular
Babies named Karl per 1,000 boys born in each state, 2021 to 2025. Darker means more common.
Karl by decade
| Decade | Baby boys | Best rank |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | 419 | #206 |
| 1890s | 589 | #199 |
| 1900s | 792 | #169 |
| 1910s | 4,694 | #160 |
| 1920s | 5,801 | #207 |
| 1930s | 7,723 | #162 |
| 1940s | 9,724 | #172 |
| 1950s | 18,731 | #146 |
| 1960s | 21,179 | #135 |
| 1970s | 10,623 | #177 |
| 1980s | 9,371 | #225 |
| 1990s | 6,111 | #295 |
| 2000s | 2,800 | #564 |
| 2010s | 1,625 | #1,075 |
| 2020s | 654 | #1,425 |
Boy names about as popular as Karl
Questions
- Is Karl a boy or girl name?
- Karl is mostly a boy name. Over the last 10 years, 100% of babies named Karl were boys.
- How popular is the name Karl?
- 107 baby boys were named Karl in the US in 2025, making it the 1585th most popular boy name.
- When was Karl most popular?
- Karl peaked in 1960, when 2,594 boys were given the name. Its highest rank was #135, held for 2 years starting in 1960.
- How many people are named Karl?
- 101,751 babies have been named Karl in the US since 1880. We estimate about 66,888 of them are alive in 2026, with a median age of 59.
- Where is Karl most popular?
- From 2021 to 2025, Karl was most common in Florida, at 0.1 of every 1,000 boys born there.
Source: Social Security Administration baby name data, 1880 to 2025 (names given to at least 5 babies of a sex in a year). Living-people and median-age figures are our estimates using US life tables. How we calculate.