# Kara (first name)

Source: https://namelineage.com/first-name/kara/  
Publisher: Name Lineage. US counts from the Social Security Administration; England and Wales counts from the Office for National Statistics; meaning and etymology from Wiktionary. Data updated 2026-11-11.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Usually given to | girls |
| Origin | not recorded |
| Meaning | not recorded |
| Pronunciation | not recorded |
| Nicknames | none recorded |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |
| US babies named this | 102,025 since 1880 |
| Boys / girls in the US | 282 / 101,743 (100% girls) |
| Babies in England and Wales | 4,097, 1996 to 2025 |

## Etymology

Variant of Cara.

## Popularity

The last 15 years of each series. A year is missing when too few babies were given the name for the agency to publish it: five in the US, three in England and Wales.

### United States, girls

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 938 | 339 |
| 2012 | 860 | 364 |
| 2013 | 834 | 374 |
| 2014 | 731 | 440 |
| 2015 | 624 | 507 |
| 2016 | 626 | 499 |
| 2017 | 610 | 516 |
| 2018 | 621 | 501 |
| 2019 | 530 | 577 |
| 2020 | 427 | 672 |
| 2021 | 373 | 765 |
| 2022 | 319 | 872 |
| 2023 | 283 | 939 |
| 2024 | 261 | 992 |
| 2025 | 226 | 1,075 |

### United States, boys

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 1980 | 13 | 3,347 |
| 1981 | 8 | 4,742 |
| 1982 | 13 | 3,399 |
| 1983 | 17 | 2,737 |
| 1984 | 8 | 4,771 |
| 1985 | 13 | 3,512 |
| 1986 | 17 | 2,949 |
| 1987 | 13 | 3,630 |
| 1988 | 6 | 6,850 |
| 1989 | 15 | 3,726 |
| 1990 | 5 | 8,807 |
| 1992 | 5 | 9,117 |
| 1994 | 9 | 6,100 |
| 1997 | 5 | 10,031 |
| 2004 | 8 | 8,537 |

### England and Wales, girls

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 275 | 186 |
| 2012 | 194 | 254 |
| 2013 | 130 | 350 |
| 2014 | 127 | 356 |
| 2015 | 94 | 461 |
| 2016 | 138 | 347 |
| 2017 | 152 | 317 |
| 2018 | 101 | 431 |
| 2019 | 103 | 409 |
| 2020 | 78 | 514 |
| 2021 | 66 | 588 |
| 2022 | 38 | 910 |
| 2023 | 44 | 813 |
| 2024 | 41 | 885 |
| 2025 | 31 | 1,079 |

## People named Kara

- Deborah Kara Unger, Canadian actress
- Kara Walker, American painter and installation artist (born 1969)
- Kara DioGuardi, American music producer, composer and pop singer
- Kara Hayward, American actress
- Kara Goucher, American long-distance runner
- Kara Lawson, American basketball player and coach
- Kara Monaco, American model
- Kara Wai, Chinese-born actress
- Kara Tointon, English actress
- Kara Wolters, American basketball player (born 1975)
- Kara Lynn Joyce, American swimmer, Olympic silver medalist, world champion
- Kara Winger, American javelin thrower

## How to read these numbers

A count is babies registered with that name in that year, not people alive now, so a name common a century ago can have a large total and few recent births.