# Karel (first name)

Source: https://namelineage.com/first-name/karel/  
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 | boys and girls |
| Origin | not recorded |
| Meaning | not recorded |
| Pronunciation | not recorded |
| Nicknames | none recorded |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |
| US babies named this | 1,814 since 1880 |
| Boys / girls in the US | 606 / 1,208 (67% girls) |
| Babies in England and Wales | 50, 1996 to 2025 |

## 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 |
|---|---|---|
| 1986 | 6 | 10,107 |
| 1989 | 7 | 10,209 |
| 1990 | 7 | 10,737 |
| 1992 | 10 | 8,377 |
| 1995 | 11 | 7,775 |
| 1996 | 7 | 11,142 |
| 1997 | 6 | 12,864 |
| 1998 | 9 | 9,681 |
| 1999 | 7 | 11,976 |
| 2000 | 5 | 16,242 |
| 2001 | 7 | 12,713 |
| 2003 | 5 | 17,018 |
| 2004 | 7 | 13,438 |
| 2007 | 7 | 14,661 |
| 2009 | 9 | 11,939 |

### United States, boys

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 9 | 8,459 |
| 2012 | 10 | 7,845 |
| 2013 | 7 | 10,200 |
| 2014 | 5 | 13,077 |
| 2015 | 7 | 10,091 |
| 2016 | 8 | 9,281 |
| 2017 | 5 | 13,257 |
| 2018 | 5 | 13,161 |
| 2019 | 11 | 7,408 |
| 2020 | 5 | 13,081 |
| 2021 | 6 | 11,445 |
| 2022 | 13 | 6,659 |
| 2023 | 22 | 4,670 |
| 2024 | 8 | 9,421 |
| 2025 | 5 | 12,966 |

### England and Wales, boys

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 1996 | 5 | 2,020 |
| 1998 | 4 | 2,419 |
| 2006 | 4 | 3,385 |
| 2007 | 4 | 3,589 |
| 2008 | 4 | 3,687 |
| 2012 | 3 | 4,805 |
| 2014 | 6 | 2,964 |
| 2015 | 3 | 4,747 |
| 2016 | 3 | 4,810 |
| 2017 | 4 | 3,996 |
| 2018 | 4 | 3,959 |
| 2019 | 3 | 4,702 |
| 2023 | 3 | 4,991 |

## People named Karel

- Karel Čapek, Czech writer (1890–1938)
- Karel Poborský, Czech footballer
- Karel Gott, Czech singer and actor (1939–2019)
- Karel Appel, Dutch painter, sculptor, and poet (1921-2006)
- Karel Schwarzenberg, Czech politician, minister of foreign affairs and vice prime minister (1937–2023)
- Karel van Mander the Elder, Flemish painter, poet and art historian (1548–1606)
- Karel Hynek Mácha, Czech poet, traveller, playwright, lawyer and writer (1810–1836)
- Karel Reisz, Czech-born British director, producer, film theorist, theatre director (1926-2002)
- Karel Jaromír Erben, Czech archivist, poet, ethnographer, librettist, publicist, lawyer, translator and writer 
- Karel Zeman, Czech film director, artist and animator (1910–1989)
- Karel Brückner, Czech footballer
- Karel De Gucht, Belgian politician

## 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.