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Karim

#1,084 in 2025Boys' name

Noble, generous

Karim has been given to 6,944 babies in the U.S. since 1957. In 2025 it ranked #1,084 of 13,926 boys’ names in use. Its peak year was 2023, with 376 recorded.

Babies named Karim, 2025

1 in 16,700

Karim over time, 1880–2025

BoysGirls
010020030040018801900192019401960198020002020

Based on births in the U.S. Babies given the name each year. Hover the chart — or focus it and use the arrow keys — for any year. Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Karim: meaning, origin, and history

Noble, generous

Arabic

What Karim means

Karim means “noble, generous”, associated with karīm.

Origin, language, and formation

Karim is used in English. Its origins include Arabic.

Karim comes through Arabic كَرِيم.

Pronunciation and spelling

In English, Karim is pronounced /kəˈɹiːm/.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 6,886 boys were recorded with the name Karim between 1957 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 376 in 2023; its best national rank was #707 in 2023.

Over 5 years its rank fell, from #1,000 in 2020 to #1,084 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank rose, from #1,091 in 2015 to #1,084 in 2025.

In the United States, 58 girls were recorded with the name Karim between 1970 and 2011. Its highest annual count was 11 in 1979; its best national rank was #5,725 in 1975.

Sources & methodologyReferences, data & attribution

Meaning, origin, and language notes draw on the references below.

American popularity figures use published Social Security Administration records for this exact spelling. Counts below five for a name, sex, and year are omitted.

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

How common is Karim?

Everything below is computed from the 2025 data — the most recent year available.

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 16,700
198 of 3,315,165 births
Among boys only
1 in 8,630
0.01% of boys
Rank, 2025
#1,084
of 13,926 boys’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
11,607 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Karim sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Liam (20,818)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 2025 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.

Class of 20Under 1%
Class of 30Under 1%
Grade of 100Under 1%
School of 5003%

Put another way: gather 11,607 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Karim. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Karims were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Karim was born before 2009 — so the typical Karim is around 16 today.

Median birth year
2009
About 16 years old
Biggest decade
2010s
25.7% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
65.8%
A modern name
Recorded since 1950
6,886
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

2010s — 25.7% of all recorded uses (1,771).

Is Karim rising or falling?

Rank movement and count movement can disagree — the number of distinct names in use keeps growing, so a name holding a steady count still slides down the list. Both are shown.

Rank vs 1 year ago
−263
Places dropped
Rank vs 5 years ago
−84
Places dropped
Rank vs 10 years ago
+7
Places climbed
Births vs 10 years ago
1.11×
More babies than then
Share of its own peak
52.7%
Peak was 2023 (376)
Years since peak
2
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Shifting
15.0% average annual change
Best rank ever
#707
2023

Spellings of Karim

Karim is not the most common spelling — Mario is, with 23.9% against Karim's 1.1%.

Grouped by closeness of spelling (up to two letter changes), same sex, with a floor on all-time use. It catches Sophia/Sofia and Aiden/Ayden, and misses spellings that sound alike but look different, like Sean and Shawn.

Where Karim is used

Across 2016–2025, Karim was most concentrated in Arizona — about 1 in 3,125 boys, against 1 in 6,807 across all states with data. It was least common in Wisconsin (1 in 50,000).

232 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1Arizona1 in 3,125
  2. 2California1 in 4,545
  3. 3Texas1 in 4,545
  4. 4New Jersey1 in 5,000
  5. 5Florida1 in 5,263
  6. 6Illinois1 in 5,263
  7. 7New York1 in 5,263
  8. 8Georgia1 in 7,143

Shading is the share of that state's recorded boys given this name, not the raw count — otherwise the map would just show which states are biggest. Unshaded states have no published records for this period. U.S. birth records suppress state-year counts below 5; state counts therefore don't add up to the national total. Every state links to its full rankings.

Karim around the world

Where Karim ranks in official birth records elsewhere in the world. Rankings only — the number of births isn’t comparable between places, so it isn’t shown.

  • England & Wales
    1996–2025
    #585
    in 2025
  • Scotland
    1982–2025
    #762
    in 2025
  • Ireland
    2000–2025
    #577
    in 2025
  • France
    1953–2025
    #463
    in 2025
  • Norway
    1880–2025
    #347
    in 2025
  • Canada
    1991–2024
    #547
    in 2024
  • South Australia
    1960–2013
    #754
    in 2013

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, National Records of Scotland, Central Statistics Office, Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques, Statistics Norway, Statistics Canada and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS, NRS data under Open Government Licence v3.0. CSO, SSB, CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0. INSEE data under Licence Ouverte / Etalab 2.0. StatCan data under Statistics Canada Open Licence.

Notable people named Karim

People whose public names include Karim, backed by Wikidata given-name records and ordered by linked Wikimedia pages. The name may be a middle name.

People data from Wikidata (CC0). Fame is measured, not judged — the order reflects how widely each person is documented, not the U.S. birth records popularity this page is otherwise about.

Karim in other languages

Cross-language forms and variants of Karim. Linked forms have their own page here.

Kareem

Variant forms from Wikidata (CC0). Most are used mainly outside the United States; U.S. birth records statistics cover US usage only.

Karim by the numbers

The raw record for each sex the name is used for.

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
#1,084
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Down 84
Best rank ever
#707
2023
Peak year
2023
376 that year
First recorded
1957
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
6,886
Count in 2025
198

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
—
Best rank ever
#5,725
1975
Peak year
1979
11 that year
First recorded
1970
Last recorded
2011
All-time count
58
Count in 2025
Under 5

Names similar to Karim

Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.

KaronKarsenKaramKaranKarsynKareemKarloKarsonKarlosKarenKarterKarstenKarasKarelKariKarolKartierKarthikKarmeloKarmaKartikKarlKarverKarlin

Names with a curve like Karim

Not spelling — timing. These names rose, peaked and faded in the same years as Karim, so they read as being from the same moment even when they look nothing alike.

YaakovMordechaiYitzchokYisroelShmuelMikaelYehudaRianMustafaShlomoFrancoSamir

Sibling names for Karim

Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.

Explore around Karim

Top names of 2023, Karim's peak yearThe 2020s in fullOther names that peaked in 2023Boys' names starting with KArabic Boy NamesArabic NamesKazakh Boy NamesMuslim Boy NamesUzbek Boy Names