Karl

“Variant of Charles — Free man” — Germanic, via French origin

Boy's name · #1593 in the US (2025) · Timeless

Karl holds its lane: charted since 1880 and rarely far from where it stands today (#1593 in 2025). About 101,000 boys have carried it along the way. In all that time it has never once missed a year of the national records. Together with its spelling variant Carl (#1134), Karl would rank around #838 with about 290 births last year — the newborns split about 64/36 between Carl and Karl.

Around the world: #2 in Denmark (2025).

Appears in 2020-2025 birth records of 11 states. See the full state-by-state map on this page.

Famous Karls

Karl Marx — German-born philosopher (1818-1883)
Karl Popper — Austrian-British philosopher of science and social and política e falsificationism and for criticism of Plato, Hegel and Marx as totalitarian opponents of open society (1902-1994)
Karl Jaspers — German-Swiss psychiatrist and philosopher (1883–1969)
Karl Ferdinand Braun — German inventor and physicist (1909 Nobel Prize)
Karl Adolph Gjellerup — Danish writer (1857–1919)

In stories & tradition

Karl (Old Shatterhand) — literary character
Karl (Baron Mordo) — Strange Tales · Doctor Strange
Karl Ruprect Kroenen — Hellboy

What Karls become

Among 19,997 notable people named Karl:

Military figures appear 2.82× more often than among typical names — e.g. Karl Philipp, Prince of Schwarzenberg, Austrian field marshal (1771–1820).

Similar names: Carl · Gerard · Kasey · Freddy · Daryl · Roel

Browse more boy names — popularity, trends and eras for 5,700+ American names, free.

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