Given name & surname
Karim
“a generous man”
Karim is a variant of Kareem. One Arabic interpretation is “a generous man.”
Original Arabicكريم
Meaning & origin
What it means
Karim is a variant of Kareem. One Arabic interpretation is “a generous man.”
Explained through its name family
Where it comes from
An origin associated with this spelling is Arabic.
How it developed
From Arabic كَرِيم (“noble, generous”); its root is Arabic ك ر م.
Adapted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0)
The story
Published U.S. birth records include this spelling as early as 1957. This is the earliest published observation available here, rather than a date for the name’s origin.
From dated birth records
Karim through the years
- Babies since 1880
- 6,944
- 6,886 boys · 58 girls
- Most popular year
- 2023
- 376 babies
- 2025
- 198
- #1,084 for boys
- 2021–25 vs 2016–20
- +38%
- Rising
Where it’s given
By the numbers
In 2025, this name appeared in 198 U.S. birth records for boys, ranking No. 1,084 among boys’ names. Average annual use for boys was 38.3% higher in 2021–2025 than in 2016–2020. In 2025, Texas had the largest reported state-level birth count for boys with this name (29). Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 8,470 as a first name in 2020; 6,766 as a surname in 2020.
From Social Security birth records and U.S. Census name counts for this exact spelling. Other spellings are counted separately.
Karim’s family of names
Karim has a feminine form in Karima. Karim has a related form in Kareem. In Tajik usage, Karim is a Roman-alphabet rendering of Карим.
Inner ring: spellings · middle: nicknames and forms · outer: across languages.
Around the world
Karim has relatives in 4 languages. Lines run from its Arabic roots to each of them.
Arabicwhere Karim comes from · 1 name
Nicknames & forms 3
Diminutives, pet forms, short forms and variants used alongside the name.
Spellings & scripts 4
The same name written differently, including transliterations into other scripts.
Across languages 3
Equivalents and cognates in other languages, plus older forms it grew from.
See also 2
Names our sources mention alongside this one. They are related in story or meaning, not forms of this name.
People named Karim
- Karim BenzemaFrench footballer (born 1987)
- Karim MassimovKazakhstani politicianborn 1965
- Aga Khan IV49th Imam of Nizari Isma'ilism Muslims1936–2025
- Karim AdeyemiGermany footballer (born 2002)
- Karim AnsarifardIranian footballerborn 1990
- Karim Khan ZandKing of the Lurs and founder of the Luri Zand dynasty empire1705–1779
- Karim BellarabiGerman professional footballerborn 1990
- Karim El AhmadiMoroccan football playerborn 1985
- Karim Findiauthor, writer, journalistborn 1946
Listed by how widely each person is written about, which says nothing about the name itself.
Appears in
Similar names
If you love Karim, these share its style, era, origin or sound, from outside its own family.
Kerim
Kerim is a masculine given name from Ottoman Turkish, ultimately from Arabic. It is used in Turkish.
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Asil
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