Karina
Meaning
variant of Katherine, traditionally translated as 'pure'
The story
Karina travels under several passports at once: a Scandinavian and Slavic diminutive line descending from Katherine, traditionally pure, and a Romance echo of Carina, dear one, with Russia, Poland, and Latin America all treating it as a familiar daughter. American use starts in the 1950s and climbs steadily to a plateau across the 1990s through 2010s, with especially strong Latino usage, where Karina sits comfortably beside Carolina and Marina, three sisters in full sail. It has eased only slightly in the 2020s. The k-spelling gives it a crisp international finish, and the multi-origin honesty is the point: Karina belongs to several traditions simultaneously and politely refuses to file under just one. That breadth makes it a quiet diplomat of a name, at home at any table where several traditions sit down together.
Karina around the world
One shared root links 26 names across 8 languages.
Shared root: from Greek Aikaterine, linked since early Christian times to katharos "pure", though the name's true origin predates that folk etymology
The constellation
18 more branches of this family
Popularity, 1890–2024
Shape drawn from US Social Security baby-name records. Karina peaked in the 1990s and the 2010s in nearly equal measure.
Popularity in Brazil
119,600 people · the #271 first name in Brazil · about 1 in 1,698 · median age 32
Among people named Karina living in Brazil at the 2022 census, roughly as many were born in the 1980s as in the 1990s, more than in any other decade.
The census also counted 901 born between 2020 and August 2022, too recent a span to chart.
Source: IBGE, Censo Demográfico 2022
When you meet Karina
Most people given the name Karina in the United States were born between 1990 and 2009. The Karina you meet today is most often in her 20s or 30s.
Estimated from US Social Security birth registrations and typical lifespans; a rough guide, not a rule.
The Karina deep dive
Whether you’re naming a baby or exploring your own name’s history, this is a personal letter, not a list: where Karina truly comes from, how it traveled, and what a century of records reveals. If you have grown a tree on nametree, it also considers how Karina fits with your family’s names and surname.
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