How Many People Are Named Kara?
An estimated 95,659 people in the United States have the first name Kara. It is almost exclusively a female name. The average bearer is 37 years old, and Kara peaked in popularity in 1991 with 3,280 births that year.
Below you will find a full statistical profile of Kara as a first name in the United States, including gender data, a year-by-year popularity timeline going back to 1880, a decade breakdown, and state-by-state birth registrations. You can also check how many people share the full name Kara paired with any surname.
Key Insights
- While Kara is overwhelmingly female, 282 male births have been registered with this name since 1880.
Estimated Living Americans
95,659
About 1 in 3,583 people in the U.S.
Rarity
Uncommon
Predicted Gender
Female
99.7% confidence
Average Age
37
years old
Peak Year
1991
3,280 births
Total Registered
101,796
since 1880
Gender Distribution for Kara
Kara is almost exclusively a female name. Out of 101,796 total births registered, 99.7% were female.
Kara as a male name
Ranked #8,536 in 2004
8 male births in 2004
Peak: 1983 (17 births)
Kara as a female name
Ranked #988 in 2024
261 female births in 2024
Peak: 1991 (3,280 births)
Kara: Popularity Over Time
SSA records for Kara span from the 1890s to the 2020s, covering 12 decades of naming data. The most popular decade for this name was the 1980s, when 27,630 babies were registered. Kara has declined significantly from its peak in the 1980s. Recent registrations are a fraction of what they were at the name's height.
Kara by Decade
How has Kara tracked across different eras? The table below groups all SSA birth registrations into 10-year periods, with separate male and female counts. The colored bar shows each decade's share relative to the peak.
Kara by State
Birth registrations for Kara span all 51 states and territories in the SSA database. The highest counts are in California, Texas, Ohio. The lowest are in Delaware, Vermont, Alaska. On average, about 1,948 Karas were registered per state.
Kara + Last Name Combinations
How many people share a full name with Kara as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Names Similar to Kara
Other first names starting with K with a similar number of bearers.
Kara: Questions and Answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Kara?
We estimate approximately 95,659 people named Kara are alive in the United States today. This is based on SSA birth records from 1880 to 2024, adjusted for mortality using CDC life tables. About 1 in 3,583 Americans share this first name.
Is Kara a common name?
Kara is classified as "Uncommon" and is more popular than 99.5% of all first names in the SSA database. A total of 101,796 births have been registered with this name since 1880.
When was Kara most popular?
Kara reached peak popularity in 1991, when 3,280 babies were given this name. The average age of a living person named Kara is approximately 37 years old, reflecting when the name was most commonly given.
Is Kara a female name?
Kara is predominantly female. 99.7% of people with this name are female. See the gender breakdown above for full details.
How many Kara Smiths are there?
To find how many people share a specific full name, we combine first name and surname frequencies. Try: Kara Smith, Kara Johnson, Kara Williams. You can also search any combination on our homepage.
Where does this data come from?
Our estimates use Social Security Administration birth records (1880 to 2024), adjusted for survival using CDC 2023 life tables broken down by sex. The U.S. population figure (342,754,338) is from the Census Bureau's July 2025 estimate. Full methodology.
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