# Karuna (first name)

Source: https://namelineage.com/first-name/karuna/  
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 | Sanskrit |
| Meaning | “compassion”, “kindness” |
| Pronunciation | not recorded |
| Nicknames | none recorded |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |
| US babies named this | 144 since 1880 |
| Boys / girls in the US | 0 / 144 (100% girls) |
| Babies in England and Wales | not in the ONS data |

## Etymology

Borrowed from Sanskrit करुणा (karuṇā, “compassion, kindness”).

## 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 |
|---|---|---|
| 2003 | 8 | 11,849 |
| 2005 | 6 | 15,436 |
| 2006 | 8 | 12,968 |
| 2008 | 8 | 13,185 |
| 2009 | 7 | 14,447 |
| 2010 | 7 | 14,222 |
| 2011 | 6 | 15,767 |
| 2012 | 12 | 9,400 |
| 2013 | 6 | 15,559 |
| 2015 | 9 | 11,373 |
| 2016 | 11 | 9,743 |
| 2017 | 9 | 11,142 |
| 2018 | 5 | 16,858 |
| 2019 | 7 | 13,103 |
| 2020 | 5 | 16,289 |

## In other languages

- Hindi: करुणा

## People named Karuna

- Uma Thurman, American actress and model (born 1970)

## 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.