Karma
- Pronunciation
- [Kar-ma]
- Gender
- Female
- Meaning
- "Actions Are Fate."
- Origin
- Indian
About the Name Karma
Karma comes from the Indian spiritual and philosophical tradition, where the concept holds that one's actions shape one's fate — the principle that deeds carry consequences across the arc of a life and beyond. Rooted in Sanskrit, the word literally describes "action" or "deed," and as a name it carries that idea of moral cause and effect into something hopeful and grounding, a quiet reminder of intention and consequence woven into an everyday word.
As a given name, Karma has a soft, balanced sound and a meaning that resonates far beyond its origin, having entered broad cultural vocabulary across the English-speaking world. Its two open syllables feel gentle and contemporary, and its message of fairness and right action gives it a thoughtful, almost talismanic quality. It appeals especially to parents drawn to mindful, meaning-first naming — names that carry a small philosophy alongside a pretty sound, blending the spiritual with the simple.
Karma first entered the US Social Security top-1000 for girls in 2005, climbing to its peak in 2009 at rank #761. It remained in the rankings through 2013, when it sat at #960 with 263 births. Across its tracked years it accounts for 2,753 recorded births — a modern, meaning-driven name that found a clear if relatively brief moment of broader popularity.
Source: U.S. Social Security Administration name data, 1880–2024 (methodology). By Marvin Tang.
Quick Facts About Karma
US Popularity History (2005–2013)
Annual US births named Karma by gender, from US Social Security Administration records. Peak year: 2009 with 375 girls named Karma (girl rank #761 that year).
Where it stands today: in 2013, ranked #960 for girls (263 US births). That's 199 places below its 2009 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 Karma Most Popular?
Average girl-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 girls-name rankings — a per-capita measure that isn't biased toward large states. For Karma the strongest states are Kentucky, Oklahoma, South Carolina.
Strongest girls-name states
| # | State | Avg rank | Births |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kentucky | #673 | 19 |
| 2 | Oklahoma | #700 | 24 |
| 3 | South Carolina | #745 | 23 |
| 4 | Missouri | #751 | 31 |
| 5 | Indiana | #783 | 57 |
| 6 | Tennessee | #787 | 38 |
| 7 | Alabama | #828 | 17 |
| 8 | North Carolina | #834 | 33 |
| 9 | Virginia | #861 | 25 |
| 10 | Ohio | #874 | 66 |
Weakest girls-name states
| # | State | Avg rank | Births |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Georgia | #1,092 | 37 |
| 2 | Michigan | #901 | 44 |
| 3 | Ohio | #874 | 66 |
| 4 | Virginia | #861 | 25 |
| 5 | North Carolina | #834 | 33 |
| 6 | Alabama | #828 | 17 |
| 7 | Tennessee | #787 | 38 |
| 8 | Indiana | #783 | 57 |
| 9 | Missouri | #751 | 31 |
| 10 | South Carolina | #745 | 23 |
Source: SSA state-level baby-name dataset 2016–2025. States with fewer than 3 years of data for Karma in this window are excluded. Births < 5 in a given state-year are suppressed by SSA for privacy.
Looking for names like Karma?
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 Karma to Other Popular Names
Side-by-side popularity charts and crossover years for Karma against today's most popular girls-name peers (top 8 by US births in the last 10 years of SSA records).