Caraline
A feminine name derived from Caroline, ultimately from the male name Charles, meaning "free man" or "strong".
Name Census estimates that about 1,075 living Americans carry the first name Caraline. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Caraline today is around 18 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Caraline births was 2011 (55 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Caraline. 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
1.1K
~ 1 in 318,841 Americans
Peak year
2011
55 babies that year
Average age
18
years old
2024 SSA rank
#6,191
Tracked since 1970
Popularity
Caraline: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Caraline from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 422 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2010s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Caraline 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 Caraline during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Caralines live
The SSA's state-level files cover 10 states and territories. Texas, Ohio, Tennessee recorded the most babies named Caraline, while New York, North Carolina, Missouri recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 9 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Caraline
The name Caraline is an English feminine given name derived from the French name Caroline. Its roots can be traced back to the Late Latin name Carolina, which was a feminine form of the masculine name Carolus, meaning "free man" or "puny man."
Caroline was originally a regional name that came into prominence in the 8th century, carried by Charlemagne's wife, Princess Caroline of Lauenburg. The name gained popularity across Europe due to its association with the powerful Carolingian dynasty that ruled much of Western Europe from the 8th to the 10th century.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Caraline can be found in the 13th-century French epic poem "The Song of Roland," where it appears as a variant spelling of Caroline. The name also has religious connections, as it was borne by several early Christian saints and martyrs, including Saint Caroline Gerhardinger, the founder of the School Sisters of Notre Dame.
Throughout history, several notable figures have borne the name Caraline or its variants. One of the most famous was Caroline of Ansbach (1683-1737), the wife of King George II of Great Britain. Another was Caroline Herschel (1750-1848), a German astronomer who discovered several comets and was the first woman to be paid for her contributions to science.
Other notable Caralines include Caroline Lucretia Herschel (1782-1864), an English astronomer and the sister of Sir John Herschel; Caroline Norton (1808-1877), an English author and social reformer who campaigned for the rights of women and children; and Caroline Still Anderson (1848-1919), an African American educator and activist who played a significant role in the establishment of public education for Black children in the United States.
While the name Caraline is not as common as its more widely used variant Caroline, it has maintained a presence throughout history as a feminine given name with a rich cultural heritage and associations with notable figures across various fields.
People
Caraline + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Caraline 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
Caraline: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Caraline?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,075 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Caraline 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 318,841 US residents.
Is Caraline a common name?
We classify Caraline as "Rare". It ranks above 90.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,092 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Caraline most popular?
The single biggest year for Caraline was 2011, when 55 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Caraline is about 18 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Caraline a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Caraline 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.
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.