Karna

Girls' name

Ear

Karna has been given to 529 babies in the U.S. since 1930. It was used fewer than 5 times in 2025, so it doesn't appear in the latest year's list — today it's a genuinely uncommon pick. Its peak year was 1970, with 30 recorded.

Babies named Karna, 1985

1 in 714,000

Karna over time, 1880–2025

GirlsBoys

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Karna: meaning, origin, and history

Ear

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Karna means

Karna means “ear”.

Documented naming usage and pronunciation

Karna is used in Hinduism.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 523 girls were recorded with the name Karna between 1930 and 1985. Its highest annual count was 30 in 1970; its best national rank was #2,473 in 1970.

In the United States, 6 boys were recorded with the name Karna between 2000 and 2000. Its highest annual count was 6 in 2000; its best national rank was #9,707 in 2000.

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.

U.S. Social Security Administration: national name data and limitations

How common is Karna?

Karna had fewer than 5 recorded uses in 2025, so these figures use 1985, the last year it was published.

Among all babies, 1985: 1 in 714,000; 5 of 3,568,740 births
Among girls only: 1 in 344,000; <0.01% of girls
Rank, 1985: Unranked; Fewer than 5 uses
Coin-flip room size: 494,734 kids; Even odds of a second one

Where Karna 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 1985 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 494,734 children born in 1985 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Karna. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Karnas were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Karna was born before 1964 — so the typical Karna is around 61 today.

Median birth year: 1964; About 61 years old
Biggest decade: 1970s; 31.7% of all use
Born in the last 25 years: 59.7%; A modern name
Recorded since 1950: 438; People you could plausibly meet

Choose a decade

1970s — 31.7% of all recorded uses (166).

Is Karna 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: —; Not ranked then
Rank vs 5 years ago: New entry; Not ranked then
Rank vs 10 years ago: —; Not ranked then
Births vs 10 years ago: —; Not published both years
Share of its own peak: 0%; Peak was 1970 (30)
Years since peak: 55; Years
Year-to-year steadiness: Volatile; 29.1% average annual change
Best rank ever: #2,473; 1970

Spellings of Karna

Karna is not the most common spelling — Karen is, with 17.0% against Karna's <0.01%.

Karen17.0%987,989
Anna15.7%914,859
Maria9.7%566,111
Sara7.5%436,193
Kayla6.0%346,570
Dana3.3%193,555
Tara3.0%175,812
Carla2.6%150,390

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 Karna is used

Across 1910–2025, Karna was most concentrated in Minnesota — about 1 in 100,000 girls, against 1 in 320,529 across all states with data. It was least common in Illinois (1 in —).

01 per 100,000

State popularity map

Most concentrated

1Minnesota1 in 100,000
2California1 in —
3Illinois1 in —

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. Karna has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Karna around the world

Where Karna 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
2001–2001
#3,134
in 2001

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics. ONS data under Open Government Licence v3.0.

Karna by the numbers

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

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025: Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago: —
Best rank ever: #2,473; 1970
Peak year: 1970; 30 that year
First recorded: 1930
Last recorded: 1985
All-time count: 523
Count in 2025: Under 5

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025: Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago: —
Best rank ever: #9,707; 2000
Peak year: 2000; 6 that year
First recorded: 2000
Last recorded: 2000
All-time count: 6
Count in 2025: Under 5

Names similar to Karna

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

Karys Kariah Kareli Karman Karyna Karia Karmin Kariana Karine Karee Kariyah Karmah Karlynn Karima Karsynn Kareema Karra Karsen Karlina Aparna Karene Karem Charna Karry

Sibling names for Karna

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

For a sister

Nicolle Janeen Corinna Marlo Lashawn Shonda Jeana Jeanna

For a brother

Judd Douglass Alfonzo Edwardo Shon Brant Scot Darrick

Explore around Karna

Top names of 1970, Karna's peak year The 1970s in full Other names that peaked in 1970 Girls' names starting with K