Caralee
A feminine name of uncertain origin, possibly a blend of Caroline and Lee.
Name Census estimates that about 676 living Americans carry the first name Caralee. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Caralee today is around 47 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Caralee births was 1971 (27 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Caralee. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
People living today
676
~ 1 in 507,033 Americans
Peak year
1971
27 babies that year
Average age
47
years old
2019 SSA rank
#15,992
Tracked since 1929
Census
Caralee in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 764 people with the first name Caralee, which placed it at #15,159 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#15,159
National first-name rank
People counted
764
764 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
90.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Caralee
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Caralee is White at 90.8%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (3.4%) and Two or More Races (2.9%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Caralee described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Caralee at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White90.8% · 694
- Hispanic or Latino3.4% · 26
- Two or more races2.9% · 22
- Black or African American2.0% · 15
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.5% · 4
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.4% · 3
Popularity
Caralee: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Caralee from the 1920s through to the 2010s, spanning 10 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 179 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1970s peak, Caralee remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Caralee by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Caralee during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Caralees live
Origin
Meaning and history of Caralee
The name Caralee is a feminine given name of uncertain origin, with various theories proposed as to its roots and meaning. One theory suggests that it is a combination of the English name "Cara," derived from the Latin word "carus," meaning "beloved," and the French word "lee," meaning "meadow" or "clearing." This interpretation would make Caralee mean something along the lines of "beloved meadow" or "beloved clearing."
Another hypothesis traces Caralee's origins to the Irish language, where it may be a variation of the name "Carleen," itself a diminutive form of the name "Caroline." The name Caroline is derived from the Germanic name "Karlina," which in turn comes from the Old High German word "karl," meaning "man" or "husband."
While the name's exact roots remain uncertain, the earliest recorded instances of Caralee as a given name can be traced back to the late 19th century in parts of the United States and Canada. One of the earliest known individuals with this name was Caralee Dickerson (1854-1924), an American educator and activist from Kansas who played a pivotal role in the women's suffrage movement.
Another notable figure was Caralee Casler (1879-1965), an American artist and illustrator who gained recognition for her work in children's literature during the early 20th century. Her illustrations graced numerous books, including several editions of "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" by Lewis Carroll.
In the realm of literature, Caralee Heywood (1923-2003) was a British novelist and short story writer known for her works exploring the complexities of human relationships and the struggles of ordinary people. Her most acclaimed novel, "The Listening Child," was published in 1970.
Moving into the world of sports, Caralee Poston (born 1945) is a former professional golfer from the United States who won several tournaments on the LPGA Tour during the 1970s and 1980s, including the 1973 Bluegrass Invitational.
Finally, Caralee Ashton (born 1962) is a contemporary Canadian actress and voice artist who has lent her talents to numerous animated series, video games, and films, including voicing the character of Sasha Striker in the popular children's series "The Backyardigans."
People
Caralee + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Caralee as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with C
Other first names starting with C with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Caralee: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Caralee?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 676 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Caralee going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 507,033 US residents.
Is Caralee a common name?
We classify Caralee as "Very Rare". It ranks above 87.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 860 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Caralee most popular?
The single biggest year for Caralee was 1971, when 27 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Caralee is about 47 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Caralee in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 764 people with the name Caralee, or 0.25 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #15,159 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Caralee in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Caralee?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Caralee appears almost entirely female. Of the 759 people counted with this name, 100.0% were female and only a very small share were male. The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Caralee?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Caralee is White at 90.8%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (3.4%) and Two or More Races (2.9%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Caralee most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Caralee in the 2020 Census, accounting for 90.8% (694 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Caralee in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Caralee a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Caralee in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Caralee still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Caralee in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Caralee can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people are called Caralee?
Find out how many Americans are named Caralee on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.