Male name
Karl
2,689 births (England and Wales, 1996–2025), peaking in 1996. Expression number: 6.
Origin
From German and North Germanic (Scandinavian) Karl, from Germanic. Doublet of Charles.From Wiktionary, entry “Karl”, text under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Do you know a Karl?
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How many babies received it
From the official birth registers.
In England and Wales
Peak in 1996: 413 births. 2,689 births from 1996 to 2025. A name given mostly in the 1990s. It is still given: 84 births from 2021 to 2025.
Source: Office for National Statistics, Baby names in England and Wales, Open Government Licence v3.0.
In the United States
Peak in 1960: 2,614 births. 101,751 births from 1880 to 2025. A name given steadily, decade after decade, from the 1940s to the 1980s. It is still given: 550 births from 2021 to 2025.
Source: Social Security Administration, Popular Baby Names, public domain.
In Ireland
Peak in 1980: 192 births. 4,556 births from 1964 to 2025. A name given mostly in the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. At its peak, it ranked 47th among boys' names in 1989. It is still given: 16 births from 2021 to 2025.
Source: Central Statistics Office, Irish Babies' Names, CC BY 4.0.
Elsewhere in the world
The name in the birth records of the 10 countries we track. The period covered varies from country to country.
| Country | Births | Period | Best rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| France | 10,670 | 1900–2025 | — |
| Switzerland | 7,951* | 1915–2025 | — |
| Quebec | 2,742 | 1980–2025 | 60th in 1989 |
| Berlin | 2,281 | 2012–2023 | 9th in 2018 |
| Austria | 1,992 | 1984–2025 | 49th in 1984 |
* These are the people living in the country, counted by year of birth, not the number of births.
Source: INSEE, Fichier des prénoms, Etalab Open Licence 2.0; Federal Statistical Office, First names of the population by year of birth, free use with attribution; Retraite Québec, Banque de prénoms, CC BY 4.0; Open Data Berlin, Häufige Vornamen, CC BY 3.0 DE (every name a child carries, not only the first); Statistik Austria, Vornamen, CC BY 4.0.
The numbers of the name
Each letter has a value: A = 1, B = 2… I = 9, then J = 1 again (Pythagorean method). We add them up, then reduce to a single digit, except 11, 22 and 33.
■ vowel · ■ consonant
Expression
All the letters: talents, the way you act.
6
responsibility, harmony, commitment to others
2 + 1 + 9 + 3 = 15 → 6
Soul
The vowels: what drives you deep down.
1
initiative, independence, beginnings
1 = 1
Personality
The consonants: what others notice first.
5
freedom, change, movement
2 + 9 + 3 = 14 → 5
- Digits missing from the name
- 4, 5, 6, 7, 8
- Most frequent digit
- 1 · initiative, independence, beginnings
The meaning of the numbers comes from numerological tradition; it isn't a measure of your personality. A full portrait needs your first and middle names, your last name at birth, and your date of birth. How we calculate
Your name and theirs
The number of each name, and the number of the bond, which comes from adding them together. A symbolic game: what your two names say together, to be read as a metaphor, not as a verdict on your relationship.