Karolin

Girls' name

Free man, through Karolina

Karolin has been given to 15 babies in the U.S. since 1994. 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 1994, with 8 recorded.

Babies named Karolin, 2008

1 in 562,000

Karolin over time, 1880–2025

Girls

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Karolin: meaning, origin, and history

Free man, through Karolina

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Karolin means

Karolin belongs to the name family reached through Karolin → Karolina → Karl. Its meaning is “free man”.

Origin, language, and formation

Karolin is used in Estonian, German and Swedish.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Karoliina, Caroline, Karolina and Karl.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 15 girls were recorded with the name Karolin between 1994 and 2008. Its highest annual count was 8 in 1994; its best national rank was #9,993 in 1994.

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 Karolin?

Karolin had fewer than 5 recorded uses in 2025, so these figures use 2008, the last year it was published.

Among all babies, 2008: 1 in 562,000; 7 of 3,930,727 births
Among girls only: 1 in 270,000; <0.01% of girls
Rank, 2008: Unranked; Fewer than 5 uses
Coin-flip room size: 389,226 kids; Even odds of a second one

Where Karolin 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 2008 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 389,226 children born in 2008 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Karolin. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Karolins were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Karolin was born before 1994 — so the typical Karolin is around 31 today.

Median birth year: 1994; About 31 years old
Biggest decade: 1990s; 53.3% of all use
Born in the last 25 years: 100.0%; A modern name
Recorded since 1950: 15; People you could plausibly meet

Choose a decade

1990s — 53.3% of all recorded uses (8).

Is Karolin 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 1994 (8)
Years since peak: 31; Years
Year-to-year steadiness: Not enough data; Too few years
Best rank ever: #9,993; 1994

Spellings of Karolin

Karolin is not the most common spelling — Carolyn is, with 52.6% against Karolin's <0.01%.

Carolyn52.6%556,777
Caroline23.7%250,410
Kaitlin5.4%57,355
Carolina4.5%47,971
Karin2.7%28,532
Kaylin1.8%19,307
Karlie1.1%11,486
Karli1.0%10,960

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.

Karolin 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: #9,993; 1994
Peak year: 1994; 8 that year
First recorded: 1994
Last recorded: 2008
All-time count: 15
Count in 2025: Under 5

Names similar to Karolin

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

Karelin Karalin Karasi Karmoni Karaann Karamia Karslyn Karenza Karysma Karlyne Kartika Karidee Karesse Karroll Karagen Karetha Karalea Karelia Karrena Karelys Karleah Karinah Karmann Karanda

Sibling names for Karolin

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

Breonna Austin Darian Rikki Lucero Jacquelynn Salena Jessenia

For a brother

Denton Jade Trever Darion Darrius Mackenzie Daquan Dashawn

Explore around Karolin

Top names of 1994, Karolin's peak year The 1990s in full Other names that peaked in 1994 Girls' names starting with K