Karyna
A Slavic name carried almost entirely by Ukrainian women in Poland, glossed as "pure". Around 7,000 hold it here, few enough that meeting one sticks in the memory.
Karyna Pronunciation
Karyna is pronounced kah-RIH-nah (/kaˈrɨna/).
What Karyna means
Where Karyna comes from and what it has meant to the people who carry it.
Karyna is a Slavic name, and in Ukraine it has settled into everyday use. Its variant Karina walks beside it, and the two forms swap places on official forms and in ordinary speech. The reading Polish keeps for it, kochana and droga, points at the dear one, the beloved.
The English sense "pure" attached to the name later. It drifted over from Katarzyna and the Greek katharos, names that Karyna happens to sit near in sound. That borrowed gloss is a fine thing to carry, though the Slavic warmth of droga was already doing the work, and a bearer owes nothing to the Greek to feel at home in her own name.
Picture a school class register in Lviv, a Karyna on one line and a Karina two rows down, the register-keeper pausing over which spelling the family gave. The name is short and open. Say it and you land on droga, the dear one.
How many people are named Karyna
1 in 3023 women in Poland is named Karyna. 7,457 people carry it in the 2025 register: rank #414 among female names.
Karyna's popularity over time
Fewer than 2 girls were given the name in 2025. It has been climbing since 2025.
Karyna as a middle name
Karyna is a first name for 7,457 women in Poland and a middle name for another 37, a 100/0 split. In the women's middle-name ranking it sits 1141st, between Kadek (37) and Koralia (37).
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#1139 Gemma37
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#1140 Kadek37
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#1141 Karyna37
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#1142 Koralia37
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#1143 Madison37