# Karim (surname)

Source: https://namelineage.com/surname/karim/  
Publisher: Name Lineage. Counts from the US Census Bureau; origin and etymology from Wiktionary; bearers from Wikidata. Data updated 2026-11-11.

A surname from Arabic.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Origin | Arabic |
| Type | not recorded |
| People in the US (2010 Census) | 5,729 |
| US rank (2010) | 6,001 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 53,892 people |
| Change since 2000 | +49% (3,853 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | /kəˈɹiːm/, 2 syllables |
| Variant spellings | Kareem |

## Etymology

From Arabic كَرِيم (karīm, “noble, generous”).

## Who carries it

Share of people named Karim in the 2010 US Census by the Census's own race and ethnicity groups. The Census suppresses a share when the count behind it is small.

| Group | Share |
|---|---|
| White (not Hispanic) | 23% |
| Black (not Hispanic) | 15% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 2.8% |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | 53% |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 0.6% |
| Two or more races | 5.7% |

## Where

Wikidata records people named Karim in the United States, the Soviet Union and Syria.

## People named Karim

- Jawed Karim, American entrepreneur, co-founder of YouTube (born 1979)
- Mustai Karim, Bashkir Soviet poet, writer and playwright (1919–2005)
- Ignatius Aphrem II, 123rd Syriac Orthodox Patriarch

## Similar surnames

Karam, Karimi, Karn, Kern, Kearney, Krohn, Korn, Kerwin, Krone, Krahn, Kirwan, Kron.

## How to read these numbers

A Census count is people alive and counted in 2010, not births, and names occurring fewer than 100 times are not published at all. Ethnicity shares are the Census's own categories.