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Karli

#2,708 in 2025Girls' name

Free man, through Carly

Karli has been given to 10,960 babies in the U.S. since 1961. In 2025 it ranked #2,708 of 17,293 girls’ names in use. Its peak year was 1994, with 425 recorded.

Babies named Karli, 2025

1 in 51,800

Karli over time, 1880–2025

Girls
020040060018801900192019401960198020002020

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Karli: meaning, origin, and history

Free man, through Carly

Germanic languages

What Karli means

Karli belongs to the name family reached through Karli → Carly → Carl → Charles. Its meaning is “free man”.

Origin, language, and formation

Karli is used in English. Its origins include Germanic languages.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Carly, Carl and Charles.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 10,960 girls were recorded with the name Karli between 1961 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 425 in 1994; its best national rank was #559 in 1994.

Over 5 years its rank fell, from #1,888 in 2020 to #2,708 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank fell, from #1,289 in 2015 to #2,708 in 2025.

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 Karli?

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

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 51,800
64 of 3,315,165 births
Among girls only
1 in 25,100
<0.01% of girls
Rank, 2025
#2,708
of 17,293 girls’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
35,906 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Karli sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Olivia (13,544)

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 500Under 1%

Put another way: gather 35,906 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Karli. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Karlis were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Karli was born before 2000 — so the typical Karli is around 25 today.

Median birth year
2000
About 25 years old
Biggest decade
1990s
33.4% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
47.9%
Spread across generations
Recorded since 1950
10,960
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

1990s — 33.4% of all recorded uses (3,666).

Is Karli 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
+284
Places climbed
Rank vs 5 years ago
−820
Places dropped
Rank vs 10 years ago
−1,419
Places dropped
Births vs 10 years ago
0.34×
Fewer babies than then
Share of its own peak
15.1%
Peak was 1994 (425)
Years since peak
31
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Shifting
12.7% average annual change
Best rank ever
#559
1994

Spellings of Karli

Karli is not the most common spelling — Karen is, with 36.0% against Karli's 0.40%.

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 Karli is used

Across 2016–2025, Karli was most concentrated in Louisiana — about 1 in 4,000 girls, against 1 in 19,998 across all states with data. It was least common in North Carolina (1 in 50,000).

225 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1Louisiana1 in 4,000
  2. 2Arkansas1 in 11,111
  3. 3West Virginia1 in 11,111
  4. 4Georgia1 in 12,500
  5. 5Ohio1 in 14,286
  6. 6Oklahoma1 in 14,286
  7. 7Mississippi1 in 16,667
  8. 8Pennsylvania1 in 16,667

Shading is the share of that state's recorded girls 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.

Karli around the world

Where Karli 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
    1996–2021
    #5,581
    in 2021
  • Scotland
    1991–2020
    #765
    in 2020
  • Canada
    1991–2018
    #3,384
    in 2018
  • South Australia
    1972–2010
    #801
    in 2010

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, National Records of Scotland, Statistics Canada and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS, NRS data under Open Government Licence v3.0. StatCan data under Statistics Canada Open Licence. CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0.

Notable people named Karli

People whose public names include Karli, 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.

Karli by the numbers

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

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
#2,708
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Down 820
Best rank ever
#559
1994
Peak year
1994
425 that year
First recorded
1961
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
10,960
Count in 2025
64

Names similar to Karli

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

KarlyKarolKarmaKarisKarieKarlieKarrieKarriKarsynKarleeKarleyKarmenCarliKarynKarterKaronKarenaCharliKarissaKarolynKarlaKarelyKarimeKarin

Names with a curve like Karli

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

MarielaCaylaTiannaKaleyKaylynTessCarleyElyssaFabiolaKalynKaleighKiersten

Sibling names for Karli

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 Karli

Top names of 1994, Karli's peak yearThe 1990s in fullOther names that peaked in 1994Girls' names starting with K