Karina is a Scandinavian, Russian and Spanish spelling of Carina, which comes from the Latin cara and means "dear" or "beloved"; in Scandinavia it is also treated as a short form of Katarina. The name reached the United States through Hispanic and Eastern European families and had its best years in the 1990s. Karina ranked number 159 in 2000 and has declined steadily since, to number 750 in 2025.