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Kara vs Evelyn

How Kara and Evelyn compare across 146 years of US Social Security Administration baby-name records — popularity history, peak years, current rank, and which name overtook which.

Open Name Tournament

Kara

Female · English

Meaning: Variant Of Katherine. Pure.

Evelyn

Female · Celtic

Meaning: Light

US Popularity History — Side-by-Side

Annual US births named Kara (girls) vs Evelyn (girls), from US Social Security Administration national records.

Source: US Social Security Administration. Names appearing fewer than 5 times per year are suppressed by SSA.

Quick Stats

Metric Kara Evelyn
Peak year (most US births) 1988 — 3,039 girls 1921 — 14,278 girls
Peak rank #95 #12
Most recent rank (2024) #988 (261 births) #8 (9,123 births)
Total US births since 1880 31,342 555,984
Last 10 years (2015–2024) 4,672 97,423

Peak comparison takeaway

At its all-time peak, Evelyn reached 14,278 US births in 1921 — 11,239 more than Kara's peak count.

Crossover Years

Years where one name first passed the other in annual US births. A name "winning" in a year means it had more births that year, not necessarily a higher rank.

Year New leader Kara births Evelyn births
1984 Kara 2,855 0
2000 Evelyn 1,649 2,223

Strongest States — Last 10 Years

States where each name ranked highest, from SSA's state-level dataset. Lower average rank = name appears closer to the top of that state's girls-name list.

Kara — top 5 states

#StateAvg rankBirths
1 Idaho #328 18
2 Indiana #441 154
3 Ohio #453 240
4 Kansas #456 22
5 Alabama #508 63

Evelyn — top 5 states

#StateAvg rankBirths
1 Minnesota #3 2,360
2 Wisconsin #3 2,223
3 Oregon #4 1,348
4 Iowa #4 1,220
5 Idaho #4 719

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Data & methodology

Source: US Social Security Administration national baby names dataset 1880–2025 (CC0 public domain). Names with fewer than 5 occurrences in a given year are suppressed by SSA. State-level coverage runs 1910–2025. Crossover detection compares annual birth counts (not ranks) for each year both names appear. Methodology: see full notes. More comparisons →