Carle
A short form of Charles, a masculine name derived from the Germanic name Karl meaning "free man".
Name Census estimates that about 310 living Americans carry the first name Carle. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 76.2% of registrations being male. The average person named Carle today is around 58 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Carle births was 1920 (20 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Carle. 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.
Key insights
- • Carle started out as a boys' name but over the decades crossed over and is now given to girls far more often.
People living today
310
~ 1 in 1,105,659 Americans
Peak year
1920
20 babies that year
Average age
58
years old
1982 SSA rank
#5,733
Tracked since 1904
Gender
Gender distribution for Carle
Carle is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 606 total registrations, 462 (76.2%) were male and 144 (23.8%) were female.
Carle as a male name
- Ranked #5,733 in 1982
- 6 male births in 1982
- Peak: 1920 (20 births)
Carle as a female name
- Ranked #18,140 in 2007
- 5 female births in 2007
- Peak: 2005 (9 births)
Popularity
Carle: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Carle from the 1900s through to the 2000s, spanning 11 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 106 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1920s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Carle 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 Carle 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 Carle
The name Carle has its origins in the Germanic languages, specifically in Old Norse and Old English. It is derived from the word "karl," which meant "man" or "husband." The name likely emerged during the early medieval period, around the 5th to 10th centuries AD.
In Old Norse, the name was spelled "Karl" or "Karli," while in Old English, it took the form of "Carl" or "Ceorl." These variations reflect the linguistic differences between the two closely related Germanic languages. The name was widely used among the Norse and Anglo-Saxon populations of Northern Europe during this period.
One of the earliest recorded historical references to the name Carle can be found in the Old English epic poem "Beowulf," which dates back to around the 8th or 9th century AD. In this work, the character Unferth is referred to as "Unferth the Carle," suggesting that the name was already in use at that time.
Throughout the Middle Ages, the name Carle continued to be popular among Germanic populations. Notable historical figures who bore this name include Charlemagne (742-814 AD), the famous Frankish king and Holy Roman Emperor, whose name was derived from the Old French form "Charles," which itself originated from the Germanic "Karl."
Another notable bearer of the name Carle was Karl the Great (c. 800-876 AD), a Frankish nobleman and military leader who played a significant role in the Carolingian Empire. In the 12th century, Carle of Louvain (c. 1084-1127 AD) was a powerful nobleman and military commander who served under Godfrey of Bouillon during the First Crusade.
During the Renaissance period, the name Carle remained in use, particularly in German-speaking regions. One notable figure from this era was Carl von Linné (1707-1778), the Swedish botanist and zoologist better known as Carolus Linnaeus, who is celebrated for his contributions to the binomial nomenclature system of classification.
In the 19th century, the German composer Carl Maria von Weber (1786-1826) was a prominent figure in the development of Romantic opera. His works, such as "Der Freischütz," helped shape the course of German music during this period.
People
Carle + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Carle 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
Carle: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Carle?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 310 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Carle 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 1,105,659 US residents.
Is Carle a common name?
We classify Carle as "Very Rare". It ranks above 79.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 606 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Carle most popular?
The single biggest year for Carle was 1920, when 20 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Carle is about 58 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Carle a male name?
Yes, 76.2% of people registered as Carle in the SSA data are male. 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.