Humanverse

Kari vs Karmelo

American parents have registered 60,627 Karis since 1880, against 1,391 Karmelos. But in 2025 it was Karmelo that was commoner, 114 babies to 113.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

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

Kari Karmelo

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 90 years in which either name was published, Kari for 89 years and Karmelo for 1 year. The lead changed hands once.

Side by side

  Kari Karmelo
Total US births 60,6271,391
Most in one year 2,243121
Babies in 2025 113114
Estimated living today 57,0001,400
Median age today 467
Peak year 19752021
Best rank 129th girls1,479th boys
Rank in 2025 2,076th1,520th
First recorded 19342003
Girls / boys 59,696 / 9310 / 1,391

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 Karmelos are over 7. That is 39 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.

Where each one is strongest

How much commoner the name is in that state than it is nationally, from births recorded since 1910.

Compare something else

Related comparisons

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