Karel

Where Karel comes from

Karel hasn't made it into the dictionaries we draw on, and nobody well known enough for an encyclopedia has carried it yet — so for now its story is the one the SSA record tells. Names that spell a familiar sound a new way often live here for a while before anyone writes them down.

Along the way
  1. 1890
    Karel Čapek born
    Czech writer
  2. 1932
    First appearance
    #4,411 among girls, 5 babies — the first year at least five got the name.
  3. 1939
    Peak, #838
    69 babies named Karel — more than any year before or since.
  4. 1941
    The fade
    The first year with half the peak's births — down to #1,335.
  5. 1972
    Karel Poborský born
    Czech footballer
  6. 2008
    Mostly boys from here
    Until now more girls than boys got the name; from this year it's the other way round, and has stayed that way.
In the dictionary

No dictionary entry for this spelling — which is its own kind of rare.

Namesakes
  • Karel Čapek · Czech writer, 1890–1938
  • Karel Poborský · Czech footballer, born 1972
  • Karel Gott · Czech singer and actor, 1939–2019
  • Karel Appel · Dutch painter, sculptor, and poet, 1921–2006
  • Karel Schwarzenberg · Czech politician, minister of foreign affairs and vice prime minister, 1937–2023

Sources: the origin note and dictionary entry are quoted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0); the namesakes come from Wikidata (CC0); the milestones are worked out from the SSA record.