Caralynn
A feminine name of English origin meaning "dear little one".
Name Census estimates that about 316 living Americans carry the first name Caralynn. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Caralynn today is around 22 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Caralynn births was 2013 (23 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Caralynn. 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
316
~ 1 in 1,084,666 Americans
Peak year
2013
23 babies that year
Average age
22
years old
2024 SSA rank
#15,685
Tracked since 1963
Census
Caralynn in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 345 people with the first name Caralynn, which placed it at #26,793 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
#26,793
National first-name rank
People counted
345
345 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
83.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Caralynn
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Caralynn is White at 83.2%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (8.1%) and Black (3.5%). 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 Caralynn 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 Caralynn at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White83.2% · 287
- Hispanic or Latino8.1% · 28
- Black or African American3.5% · 12
- Two or more races2.3% · 8
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.0% · 7
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.9% · 3
Popularity
Caralynn: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Caralynn from the 1960s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 136 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
Caralynn 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 Caralynn during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Caralynn
The name Caralynn is a relatively modern name that has its origins in a blend of two older names, Carol and Lynn. The first part, Carol, is derived from the French name Caroline, which itself is a feminine form of the name Carolus, meaning "free man" in Germanic languages.
The name Carol gained popularity during the Middle Ages and was often associated with Christmas carols or songs celebrating the birth of Christ. The second part of the name, Lynn, is believed to have its roots in the Celtic word "linn," meaning a waterfall or a pool.
While the name Caralynn itself does not have a long historical record, its component parts have been around for centuries. One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Carol can be found in the 9th century, when a Frankish noblewoman named Carola was mentioned in historical documents.
In terms of famous individuals bearing the name Caralynn, the list is relatively short due to its modern origins. However, here are five notable people throughout history who have carried variations of the name:
1. Carola Neher (1900-1942), a German actress and singer who was a prominent figure in the Weimar Republic's cabaret scene.
2. Carol Heiss (born 1940), an American figure skater who won the Olympic gold medal in 1960 and was a five-time World Champion.
3. Carol Burnett (born 1933), an iconic American comedian, actress, and singer, best known for her long-running television variety show, "The Carol Burnett Show."
4. Carol Moseley Braun (born 1947), an American politician who was the first African American woman elected to the United States Senate, serving from 1993 to 1999.
5. Carol Shields (1935-2003), a Canadian author and academic, best known for her novel "The Stone Diaries," which won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1995.
While the name Caralynn may not have a long and storied history, its components reflect a blend of linguistic and cultural influences, with roots in Germanic, French, and Celtic traditions. As a relatively new name, it has the potential to forge its own unique identity and legacy in the years to come.
People
Caralynn + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Caralynn 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
Caralynn: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Caralynn?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 316 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Caralynn 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 1,084,666 US residents.
Is Caralynn a common name?
We classify Caralynn as "Very Rare". It ranks above 79.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 326 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Caralynn most popular?
The single biggest year for Caralynn was 2013, when 23 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Caralynn is about 22 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Caralynn in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 345 people with the name Caralynn, or 0.11 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #26,793 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 Caralynn 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 Caralynn?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Caralynn appears almost entirely female. Of the 355 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 Caralynn?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Caralynn is White at 83.2%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (8.1%) and Black (3.5%). 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 Caralynn most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Caralynn in the 2020 Census, accounting for 83.2% (287 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 Caralynn in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Caralynn a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Caralynn 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 Caralynn still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Caralynn 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 Caralynn 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 Americans are named Caralynn?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.