Name Awesome

Karma

#1,706 in 2025Girls' name

Action, deed, fate

Karma has been given to 7,863 babies in the U.S. since 1915. In 2025 it ranked #1,706 of 17,293 girls’ names in use. Its peak year was 2009, with 375 recorded.

Babies named Karma, 2025

1 in 27,600

Karma over time, 1880–2025

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Karma: meaning, origin, and history

Action, deed, fate

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Karma means

Karma means “action, deed, fate”.

Origin, language, and formation

Karma is used in English.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 7,593 girls were recorded with the name Karma between 1915 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 375 in 2009; its best national rank was #761 in 2009.

Over 5 years its rank fell, from #1,184 in 2020 to #1,706 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank fell, from #1,179 in 2015 to #1,706 in 2025.

In the United States, 270 boys were recorded with the name Karma between 2002 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 24 in 2022; its best national rank was #4,365 in 2022.

Over 5 years its rank fell, from #5,355 in 2020 to #5,996 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank rose, from #7,767 in 2015 to #5,996 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 Karma?

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

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 27,600
120 of 3,315,165 births
Among girls only
1 in 13,400
<0.01% of girls
Rank, 2025
#1,706
of 17,293 girls’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
19,150 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Karma 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 5002%

Put another way: gather 19,150 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Karma. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Karmas were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Karma was born before 2008 — so the typical Karma is around 17 today.

Median birth year
2008
About 17 years old
Biggest decade
2010s
31.3% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
70.1%
A modern name
Recorded since 1950
7,040
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

2010s — 31.3% of all recorded uses (2,376).

Is Karma 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
−247
Places dropped
Rank vs 5 years ago
−522
Places dropped
Rank vs 10 years ago
−527
Places dropped
Births vs 10 years ago
0.56×
Fewer babies than then
Share of its own peak
32.0%
Peak was 2009 (375)
Years since peak
16
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Steady
9.4% average annual change
Best rank ever
#761
2009

Spellings of Karma

Karma is not the most common spelling — Karen is, with 22.0% against Karma's 0.17%.

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 Karma is used

Across 2016–2025, Karma was most concentrated in Indiana — about 1 in 4,545 girls, against 1 in 9,678 across all states with data. It was least common in Wisconsin (1 in 50,000).

222 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1Indiana1 in 4,545
  2. 2Ohio1 in 5,263
  3. 3Michigan1 in 5,882
  4. 4Tennessee1 in 5,882
  5. 5Georgia1 in 6,250
  6. 6Oklahoma1 in 6,250
  7. 7Missouri1 in 6,667
  8. 8North Carolina1 in 7,143

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.

Karma around the world

Where Karma 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
    1997–2025
    #4,201
    in 2025
  • France
    2018–2025
    #6,347
    in 2025
  • Canada
    1998–2023
    #2,973
    in 2023
  • South Australia
    1944–2002
    #730
    in 2002

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

Karma by the numbers

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

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
#1,706
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Down 522
Best rank ever
#761
2009
Peak year
2009
375 that year
First recorded
1915
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
7,593
Count in 2025
120

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
#5,996
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Down 641
Best rank ever
#4,365
2022
Peak year
2022
24 that year
First recorded
2002
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
270
Count in 2025
15

Names similar to Karma

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

KarisKarolKarieKarlyKarliKarriKarmenKarleyKarsynKarrieKarlieKarterKarleeKaronKarenaKarolynKarelyKarimeCarmaKarynKarlynKarmynKarymeKarson

Names with a curve like Karma

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

SaniyahSherlynAnnelieseAvrilZionJayleeCampbellJayleneSariahNeveahSofieValery

Sibling names for Karma

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 Karma

Top names of 2009, Karma's peak yearThe 2000s in fullOther names that peaked in 2009Girls' names starting with KTibetan Names