How Many People Are Named Karla?
An estimated 80,533 people in the United States have the first name Karla. It is almost exclusively a female name. The average bearer is 41 years old, and Karla peaked in popularity in 1964 with 2,066 births that year.
Below you will find a full statistical profile of Karla 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 Karla paired with any surname.
Key Insights
- While Karla is overwhelmingly female, 309 male births have been registered with this name since 1880.
Estimated Living Americans
80,533
About 1 in 4,256 people in the U.S.
Rarity
Uncommon
Predicted Gender
Female
99.7% confidence
Average Age
41
years old
Peak Year
1964
2,066 births
Total Registered
91,550
since 1880
Gender Distribution for Karla
Karla is almost exclusively a female name. Out of 91,550 total births registered, 99.7% were female.
Karla as a male name
Ranked #11,728 in 2009
6 male births in 2009
Peak: 1989 (18 births)
Karla as a female name
Ranked #730 in 2024
385 female births in 2024
Peak: 1964 (2,060 births)
Karla: Popularity Over Time
SSA records for Karla span from the 1910s to the 2020s, covering 12 decades of naming data. The most popular decade for this name was the 1960s, when 17,756 babies were registered. Karla has declined significantly from its peak in the 1960s. Recent registrations are a fraction of what they were at the name's height.
Karla by Decade
How has Karla 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.
Karla by State
Birth registrations for Karla span all 51 states and territories in the SSA database. The highest counts are in California, Texas, Illinois. The lowest are in Delaware, New Hampshire, Rhode Island. On average, about 1,730 Karlas were registered per state.
Karla + Last Name Combinations
How many people share a full name with Karla as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Names Similar to Karla
Other first names starting with K with a similar number of bearers.
Karla: Questions and Answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Karla?
We estimate approximately 80,533 people named Karla 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 4,256 Americans share this first name.
Is Karla a common name?
Karla is classified as "Uncommon" and is more popular than 99.4% of all first names in the SSA database. A total of 91,550 births have been registered with this name since 1880.
When was Karla most popular?
Karla reached peak popularity in 1964, when 2,066 babies were given this name. The average age of a living person named Karla is approximately 41 years old, reflecting when the name was most commonly given.
Is Karla a female name?
Karla is predominantly female. 99.7% of people with this name are female. See the gender breakdown above for full details.
How many Karla Smiths are there?
To find how many people share a specific full name, we combine first name and surname frequencies. Try: Karla Smith, Karla Johnson, Karla 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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