Karim
- Gender
- Male
- Meaning
- Generous; Noble; Friendly; Precious; Distinguished
- Origin
- Arabic
About the Name Karim
Karim comes from the Arabic karīm, meaning "generous," "noble," and "precious" — a word that carries connotations of dignity, openhandedness, and high regard. It is among the names traditionally associated with the divine attributes in Islamic tradition, where generosity ranks among the highest of virtues, and that association lends the name a quiet sense of honor and warmth. To bestow it is, in effect, to wish a child a character marked by graciousness.
That depth of meaning has helped Karim travel widely across Arabic-speaking communities and far beyond, valued for being both substantial in significance and easy to pronounce in English. Its two strong, clear syllables give it a clean, confident sound that fits naturally into a multicultural naming landscape, reading as dignified without ever feeling heavy. It is a name that wears its meaning lightly even as it carries it proudly.
As a boys' name, Karim first entered the US Social Security top-1000 in 2016 and reached its peak in 2023 at #705. It remained in the rankings as recently as 2024, when it sat at #819, and across its tracked years it accounted for 1,457 births among the top-1000 — a modest but clearly rising presence. The feminine form Karima is a recorded related variant, carrying the same gracious, generous meaning into a name for a daughter.
Source: U.S. Social Security Administration name data, 1880–2024 (methodology). By Marvin Tang.
Quick Facts About Karim
US Popularity History (2016–2024)
Annual US births named Karim by gender, from US Social Security Administration records. Peak year: 2023 with 376 boys named Karim (boy rank #705 that year).
Where it stands today: in 2024, ranked #819 for boys (305 US births). That's 114 places below its 2023 peak.
Source: US Social Security Administration. Limitations: US birth-certificate data only; names appearing fewer than 5 times in a given year are suppressed for privacy; spelling variants are counted separately. For names that ranked outside the US top 100 before year 2000, only the years they reached the top 100 are shown — the chart may have gaps for less-popular historical names.
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Where in the US Is Karim Most Popular?
Average boy-name rank within each state across 2016–2025 SSA records. A lower number means the name appears closer to the top of that state's boys-name rankings — a per-capita measure that isn't biased toward large states. For Karim the strongest states are Arizona, New Jersey, Texas.
Strongest boys-name states
| # | State | Avg rank | Births |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arizona | #632 | 87 |
| 2 | New Jersey | #666 | 61 |
| 3 | Texas | #727 | 342 |
| 4 | California | #733 | 359 |
| 5 | New York | #738 | 135 |
| 6 | Illinois | #789 | 73 |
| 7 | Florida | #795 | 162 |
| 8 | Colorado | #795 | 17 |
| 9 | Virginia | #807 | 32 |
| 10 | Michigan | #824 | 26 |
Weakest boys-name states
| # | State | Avg rank | Births |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | North Carolina | #1,029 | 23 |
| 2 | Georgia | #954 | 36 |
| 3 | Tennessee | #898 | 26 |
| 4 | Washington | #867 | 27 |
| 5 | Michigan | #824 | 26 |
| 6 | Virginia | #807 | 32 |
| 7 | Colorado | #795 | 17 |
| 8 | Florida | #795 | 162 |
| 9 | Illinois | #789 | 73 |
| 10 | New York | #738 | 135 |
Source: SSA state-level baby-name dataset 2016–2025. States with fewer than 3 years of data for Karim in this window are excluded. Births < 5 in a given state-year are suppressed by SSA for privacy.
Variant Forms
| Name | Meaning | Gender | Origin |
|---|---|---|---|
| Karima | Generous: A Friend. Feminine Of Karim. | Female | Arabic |
Looking for names like Karim?
A dedicated page with 60+ related names — spelling variants, rhymes, alliterations, same-origin matches, and shared meaning concepts — lives at its own URL so each kind of similarity gets a deeper treatment than fits here.
Compare Karim to Other Popular Names
Side-by-side popularity charts and crossover years for Karim against today's most popular boys-name peers (top 8 by US births in the last 10 years of SSA records).