# Karl (given name)

Karl is a Germanic masculine name meaning "free man". The name originates in Old Norse. It 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 Auerbach (born 1949), 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), a German foreign correspondent for 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 (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 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) 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 (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), Sweden-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 magna series