Karl (given name)

Last updated August 01, 2025

Karl is a Germanic masculine name.

It comes from Old High German, meaning 'man, husband, freeman' and was widely popularised in Central and Northern Europe by its status as a royal name, in particular through the Frankish Emperor Charlemagne.^[1] It is popular in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, and was popularized by German-speaking descendants in the United States. Carl is another spelling of the name, and is popular in Scandinavian countries such as Sweden, Norway, Denmark, and Finland, and largely popularized in the United States by Scandinavian and Italian (shortened from "Carlo") descendants. The name is a variant of the English Charles, and the Latin Carolus.

Nobles

Karl der Große ( German for 'Charles the Great'), also known as Karolus Magnus in Latin and Charlemagne in French, (747–814), a Frankish King and the first Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire
Karl, Truchsess von Waldburg (1548–1593), Imperial minister
Karl, Count Chotek of Chotkow and Wognin (1783–1868), Austrian chancellor, Government President and school reformer of Bohemia
Karl, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg (1813–1878), German duke
Karl, Prince of Isenburg-Büdingen (1838–1899), head of the German house of Isenburg and Büdingen
Karl, Freiherr von Prel (1839–1899), German philosopher and writer on mysticism and the occult
Karl I of Austria (1887–1922), the last Emperor of Austria
Karl, 8th Prince of Löwenstein-Wertheim-Rosenberg (1904–1990), German Roman Catholic nobleman

Given name

Karl Abraham (1877–1925), German psychoanalyst
Karl Albrecht (1920–2014), German entrepreneur and billionaire
Karl Allen (1931–2015), American neo-Nazi
Karl Auerbach (born 1949), American computer scientist
Karl Barth (1886–1968), seminal Swiss Reformed Theologian
Karl Bartos (born 1952), German musician
Karl Becker (general) (1879–1940), German engineer and officer
Karl Becker (painter) (1820–1900), German painter
Karl Becker (philologist) (1775–1849), German philologist
Karl Beckersachs (1886–1951), German actor
Karl Benz (1844–1929), German engineer
Karl Berggren, American electrical engineer
Karl August Leopold Böhm (1894–1981), Austrian conductor
Karl von In der Maur (1852–1913), Austrian statesman
Karl Blossfeldt (1865–1932), German artist
Karl Böhm (1894–1981), Austrian conductor
Karl Bonatz (1882–1951), German architect
Karl Brandt (1904–1948), German Nazi SS physician executed for war crimes
Karl Ferdinand Braun (1850–1918), German electrical engineer
Karl Briullov, Russian painter
Karl Brooks (born 2000), American football player
Karl Brugger (1941–1984), German foreign correspondent and author
Karl Chmielewski, German Nazi SS concentration camp commandant
Karl Chua (born 1978), Filipino economist
Karl Collins, British actor
Karl Cook (born 1990), American show jumper
Karl Dall (1941–2020), German comedian and singer
Karl Davies (born 1982), English actor
Karl Denke (1860–1924), prolific and cannibalistic German serial killer
Karl Ludwig Diehl (1896–1958), German actor
Karl Dönitz (1891–1980), German admiral
Karl Drews (1920–1963), American baseball player
Karl Duldig (1902–1986), Austrian-Australian sculptor
Karl Etlinger (1879–1946), German actor
Karl Farmer (born 1954), American football player
Karl Fazer (1866–1932), Finnish businessman and sport shooter
Karl Fritzsch (1903–1945), German Nazi SS concentration camp commandant who was the first to use Zyklon B for mass murder
Karl Gebhardt (1897–1948), German Nazi SS physician who conducted criminal medical experiments, executed for war crimes
Karl Glusman (born 1988), American actor
Karl Göbel (1900–1945), Nazi Germany general
Karl Green (born 1947) British musician, bass player for British pop group Herman's Hermits
Karl Hammes (1896–1939), German operatic baritone and fighter pilot
Karl Hannemann (1895–1953), German actor
Karl Harst (1492–1563), German diplomat and assistant of Erasmus
Karl Amadeus Hartmann (1905–1963), German composer
Karl Haushofer (1869–1946), German geopolitician
Karl Hess (1923–1994), American comedian
Karl Hoblitzelle (1879–1967), American theater owner and philanthropist
Karl-Friedrich Höcker (1911–2000), German Nazi SS concentration camp officer and war criminal
Karl Holz (Nazi) (1895–1945), German Nazi
Karl Hyde (born 1957), English musician
Karl Jacobs (born 1998), American streamer and YouTuber
Karl Guthe Jansky (1905–1950), American physicist and radio engineer
Karl Jaspers (1883–1969), German philosopher
Karl Joseph (born 1993), American football player
Karl Kalkun (1927–1990), Estonian actor
Karl Kassulke (1941–2008), American football player
Karl Heinrich Kaufhold (1932–2020), German economic historian
Karl Keating (born 1950), American Catholic apologist
Karl Klug (born 1988), American football player
Karl Kneidinger (1882–1952), Austrian actor
Karl-Otto Koch (1897–1945), German Nazi commandant of concentration camps
Karl Kraus (writer) (1874–1936), Austrian writer
Karl Christian Friedrich Krause (1781–1832), German philosopher
Karl Kruszelnicki (born 1948), Australian television and radio personality
Karl Künstler (1901–1945), German Nazi SS concentration camp commandant
Karl Lagerfeld (1933–2019), German fashion designer
Karl Landsteiner (1868–1943), Austrian biologist and physician
Karl Lauterbach (born 1963), German Federal Minister of Health
Karl Lehmann (1936–2018), German prelate of the Catholic Church, Bishop of Mainz from 1983 to 2016
Karl Leo Heinrich Lehmann (1894–1960), German-born American art historian, archaeologist, and professor
Karl Linnas (1919–1987), Estonian Nazi concentration camp commandant
Karl Lucas (born 1972), English actor and comedian
Karl Malden (1912–2009), American actor
Karl Malone (born 1963), American basketball player
Karl Maron (1903–1975), German politician
Karl Marx (1818–1883), Prussian philosopher, father of historical materialism
Karl Mecklenburg (born 1960), American football player
Karl Möckel (1901–1948), German Nazi SS officer at Auschwitz concentration camp executed for war crimes
Karl Moik (1938–2015), Austrian television presenter and singer
Karl Nehammer (born 1972), Austrian politician
Karl Olive (born 1969), French sports journalist and politician
Karl Olson (1930–2010), American baseball player
Karl von Oberkamp (1893–1947), German SS commander executed for war crimes
Karl Pearson (1857–1936), English statistician
Karl Pilkington (born 1972), English podcaster, author and former radio producer
Karl Platen (1877–1952), German actor
Karl Popper (1902–1994), Austrian/British philosopher
Karl Power, British prankster
Karl Rahm (1907–1947), German SS officer, commandant of the Theresienstadt concentration camp executed for war crimes
Karl Rapp (1882–1962), German engineer
Karl "Tuffy" Rhodes, American baseball player
Karl Rove (born 1950), American political advisor
Karl Roy (1968–2012), Filipino rock singer
Karl Schiewerling (1951–2021), German politician
Karl Silfverberg (1899–1978), Swedish Air Force major general
Karl Heinz Schnell (1915–2013), German jet pilot during WW II
Karl Eberhard Schöngarth (1903–1946), German Nazi SS war criminal, executed for war crimes
Karl Schädler (1804–1872), President of the Landtag of Liechtenstein
Karl Shiels (1971–2019), Irish actor
Karl Schlyter (1879–1959), Swedish jurist and politician
Karl Singer (born 1943), American football player
Karl Söllner, (1903–1986), German-Austrian chemist
Karl Stefanovic (born 1971), Australian television presenter
Karl Steubl (1910–1945), Nazi war criminal
Karl Streibel (1903–1986), German Nazi SS concentration camp commandant
Karl Svoboda (rugby union) (born 1962), Canadian rugby union footballer
Karl Svoboda (politician) (1929–2022), Austrian politician
Karl O. Thomas (born 1963), United States Navy vice admiral
Karl Urban (born 1972), New Zealand actor
Karl Virtanen (born 1971), Swedish-Finnish journalist
Karl Edward Wagner (1945–1994), American writer, editor and publisher
Karl Wallenda (1905–1978), German-born tightrope artist
Karl Weierstrass (1815–1897), German mathematician
Karl Wendlinger (born 1968), Austrian race car driver
Karl Williams (born 1971), American football player
Karl Michael Ziehrer (1843–1922), Austrian composer

Fictional characters

Karl the Giant, a character from the 2003 film Big Fish
Karl C. Agathon, a character in the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica series
Karl Childers, protagonist in the 1996 film Sling Blade
Karl Haulzemoff, a character in the 2011 film Cars 2
Karl Hootkin, a character in the 2012 film Big Miracle
Karl Mayer, divorce attorney and ex-husband of Susan Mayer on Desperate Housewives
Karl Morgenthau, the first Marvel Comics supervillain known as Flag-Smasher
Karl Stromberg, the main antagonist in the 1977 James Bond film The Spy Who Loved Me
Karl Tanner, a character in the TV series Game of Thrones
Karl Walken, fictional mayor in Black Cat manga series

References

↑ , Dictionary of American Family Names 2nd edition, 2022.

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[1] , Dictionary of American Family Names 2nd edition, 2022.

[1]

Karl (given name)

Contents

Nobles

Given name

Fictional characters

See also

References