Carliss
A feminine variation of Charles, derived from Old German meaning "manly".
Name Census estimates that about 281 living Americans carry the first name Carliss. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 78.1% of registrations being female. The average person named Carliss today is around 66 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Carliss births was 1952 (23 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Carliss. 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
- • The typical person named Carliss is about 66 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Carliss' were born before 1970.
People living today
281
~ 1 in 1,219,766 Americans
Peak year
1952
23 babies that year
Average age
66
years old
1996 SSA rank
#9,202
Tracked since 1939
Census
Carliss in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 385 people with the first name Carliss, which placed it at #24,842 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
#24,842
National first-name rank
People counted
385
385 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
61.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Carliss
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Carliss is Black at 61.0%. The next largest groups are White (34.0%) and Hispanic (2.1%). 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 Carliss 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 Carliss at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American61.0% · 235
- White34.0% · 131
- Hispanic or Latino2.1% · 8
- Two or more races2.1% · 8
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.8% · 3
Gender
Gender distribution for Carliss
Carliss is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 389 total registrations, 85 (21.9%) were male and 304 (78.1%) were female.
Carliss as a male name
- Ranked #9,202 in 1996
- 5 male births in 1996
- Peak: 1950 (8 births)
Carliss as a female name
- Ranked #10,637 in 1981
- 5 female births in 1981
- Peak: 1952 (23 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Carliss on both sides of the split. Of the 385 people counted with this name, 113 were male (29.4%) and 272 were female (70.6%).
Popularity
Carliss: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Carliss from the 1930s through to the 1990s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1950s, with 142 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1950s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Carliss 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 Carliss during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Carliss' live
Origin
Meaning and history of Carliss
The name Carliss is a variant of the more common name Carlisle, which has its origins in the Old English language. The name is derived from the combination of the elements "cær" meaning "castle" and "leah" meaning "meadow." This suggests that the name was initially used to describe a person or location associated with a castle situated in a meadow or grassy area.
During the Anglo-Saxon period in Britain, the name was likely used as a topographical designation for settlements or estates with this distinctive geographical feature. The earliest recorded instance of the name Carlisle can be traced back to the Domesday Book of 1086, where it appears as the name of a town in Cumbria, England.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Carliss or its variants. One such figure was Carlisle Floyd (1926-2021), an American opera composer known for his works such as "Susannah" and "Of Mice and Men." Another was Carlisle Cullen, a fictional character from the "Twilight" book and movie series, portrayed as a compassionate vampire and father figure to the Cullen family.
In the realm of sports, Carliss Jeter (born 1986) is a former American professional basketball player who played in the WNBA for teams like the Indiana Fever and the Connecticut Sun. Carliss Monture (born 1969) is a Native American musician and activist from the Mohawk Nation, known for her work in preserving and promoting Indigenous culture and music.
Additionally, Carliss Baldwin (1790-1859) was an American politician who served as a member of the United States House of Representatives from Pennsylvania in the 1830s and 1840s. While not as widely known, these individuals represent the diverse backgrounds and fields in which the name Carliss has been present throughout history.
People
Carliss + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Carliss 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
Carliss: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Carliss?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 281 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Carliss 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 1,219,766 US residents.
Is Carliss a common name?
We classify Carliss as "Very Rare". It ranks above 78.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 389 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Carliss most popular?
The single biggest year for Carliss was 1952, when 23 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Carliss is about 66 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Carliss in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 385 people with the name Carliss, or 0.13 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #24,842 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 Carliss 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 Carliss?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Carliss on both sides of the split. Of the 385 people counted with this name, 113 were male (29.4%) and 272 were female (70.6%). 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 Carliss?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Carliss is Black at 61.0%. The next largest groups are White (34.0%) and Hispanic (2.1%). 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 Carliss most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Carliss in the 2020 Census, accounting for 61.0% (235 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 Carliss in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Carliss a female name?
Yes, 78.1% of people registered as Carliss 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 Carliss still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Carliss 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 Carliss 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 share the name Carliss?
You can see how many people have the name Carliss on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.