Karina
Around 37,500 Polish women carry it, but it fades fast now: just 38 newborn girls last year. The name grows from a Slavic root meaning "dear", a small warm word turned into a person's name.
Karina Pronunciation
Karina is pronounced kah-REE-nah (/kaˈrina/).
What Karina means
Where Karina comes from and what it has meant to the people who carry it.
Karina grows from a Slavic root meaning dear, beloved. The name works like a term of endearment that hardened into a person's name, a small warm word you might use for someone held close. Its short Polish gloss keeps the same two notes: miła, kochana. Affection made into a name.
The name travels. Cross a border and it changes its skin a little: Karine, the variant, turns up in Armenian and French records, the same three syllables filed under a different spelling. A Polish Karina and a French Karine can shake hands over a shared root without either needing translation.
You can watch the name settle into ordinary life on a single date. Open a Polish class register and a Karina finds her imieniny on the seventh of November, when the name gets its yearly turn on the calendar. The custom asks nothing grand of her, only cake and a few wishes. What the name has always claimed stays simple, and it stays true to those two Polish words: miła, kochana.
How many people are named Karina
1 in 601 women in Poland is named Karina. 37,515 people carry it in the 2025 register: rank #219 among female names.
Karina's popularity over time
38 girls were given the name in 2025, ranking #404 among newborns. It has been falling steadily since 2000. Still the #219 name among living women, even as it slips to #404 among newborns.
Where Karina is most popular
Karina is most popular in Subcarpathian, 57% above the national average (62 girls born 2019–2025), followed by Łódź (+55%) and Świętokrzyskie (+27%). It is least common in Opole and Podlaskie, 60% and 40% below average respectively.
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Subcarpathian62 girls born+57%
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Łódź64 girls born+55%
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Świętokrzyskie23 girls born+27%
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Lublin41 girls born+22%
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West Pomeranian33 girls born+20%
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Greater Poland80 girls born+14%
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Lower Silesian51 girls born−1%
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Lubusz16 girls born−1%
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Lesser Poland73 girls born−2%
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Masovian112 girls born−3%
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Pomeranian42 girls born−13%
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Kuyavian-Pomeranian29 girls born−19%
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Warmian-Masurian15 girls born−36%
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Silesian46 girls born−38%
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Podlaskie13 girls born−40%
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Opole6 girls born−60%
Karina as a middle name
Karina is a first name for 37,515 women in Poland and a middle name for another 8,817, an 81/19 split. In the women's middle-name ranking it sits 118th, between Celina (8,843) and Ludwika (8,080).
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116
9,032Faustyna
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117
8,843Celina
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1188,817Karina
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119
8,080Ludwika
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120
8,071Daniela
When Karina celebrates name day
Karina appears 1 time in the Polish name day calendar. The main date is 2 August.