Humanverse

Kari vs Karle

American parents have registered 60,627 Karis since 1880, against 150 Karles. Kari is still ahead, with 113 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Kari against Karle, 1880 to 2025 0 600 1.2k 1.8k 2.4k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Kari Karle

Each line is every baby given the name that year, girls and boys added together — the only count that means the same thing for both names. A line breaks where the name fell below five babies in a year — the point at which the SSA stops publishing it — rather than being drawn through a figure nobody published. A single published year in a gap shows as a dot.

Who was ahead

Of the 91 years in which either name was published, Kari for 90 years and Karle for 1 year. The lead changed hands 2 times.

Side by side

  Kari Karle
Total US births 60,627150
Most in one year 2,24312
Babies in 2025 113under 5
Estimated living today 57,000130
Median age today 4636
Peak year 19751995
Best rank 129th girls9,553rd girls
Rank in 2025 2,076thunranked
First recorded 19341938
Girls / boys 59,696 / 93194 / 56

A rank is a position within one sex’s list for one year, so the two rank rows are not subtracted from one another and the winning column is not marked on them. The living figure is a life-table estimate, not a count.

Which name is older

Half of the Karis alive today are over 46; half the Karles are over 36. That is 10 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.

Compare something else

Related comparisons

Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Kari and Karle.