Karla
A Germanic name, the feminine echo of Karol, built on an old word for a free man who answered to no lord. Most Poles will never meet one: it stays rare, and it always goes to girls.
Karla Pronunciation
Karla is pronounced KAHR-lah (/ˈkarla/).
What Karla means
Where Karla comes from and what it has meant to the people who carry it.
Karla grows from a Germanic root, the same one that produced Karl and, further west, Charles. The word underneath meant a free man, wolny człowiek, someone who answered to no lord. When a girl is given Karla, she takes on that old claim to standing.
The name travelled well. Germans kept it close to its source, while Spanish speakers took it up warmly, so today a Karla might be greeted in Munich or in Guadalajara. In Poland the link runs through Karol, its cross-gender twin, the name Karol Wojtyła carried before the world knew him as John Paul II. Karla reads as the feminine answer to that same word.
Read a Polish class register and Karla sits among the Karolinas and Karols, a short entry with a long pedigree. Diminutives soften it in speech. The root never softens, though: free man, standing on its own.
How many people are named Karla
1 in 86045 women in Poland is named Karla. 262 people carry it in the 2025 register: rank #1892 among female names.
Karla's popularity over time
4 girls were given the name in 2025, ranking #1077 among newborns. It has been climbing since 2010.
Where Karla is most popular
Karla is most popular in Masovian, 322% above the national average (9 girls born 2019–2025), followed by Pomeranian (+126%) and Silesian (+46%).
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Masovian9 girls born+322%
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Pomeranian2 girls born+126%
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Silesian2 girls born+46%
Karla as a middle name
Karla is a first name for 262 women in Poland and a middle name for another 65, an 80/20 split. In the women's middle-name ranking it sits 843rd, between Kamelia (65) and Kathryn (65).
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#841 Bernardetta65
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#842 Kamelia65
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#843 Karla65
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#844 Kathryn65
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#845 Katia65