Carlita
A feminine diminutive of the name Carlos, derived from Charles, meaning "free man".
Name Census estimates that about 1,110 living Americans carry the first name Carlita. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Carlita today is around 47 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Carlita births was 1985 (41 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Carlita. 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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Carlita with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
1.1K
~ 1 in 308,788 Americans
Peak year
1985
41 babies that year
Average age
47
years old
2023 SSA rank
#15,634
Tracked since 1914
Census
Carlita in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,417 people with the first name Carlita, which placed it at #9,708 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
#9,708
National first-name rank
People counted
1.4K
1,417 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
41.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Carlita
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Carlita is Black at 41.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (27.8%) and White (16.7%). 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 Carlita 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 Carlita at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American41.3% · 585
- Hispanic or Latino27.8% · 394
- White16.7% · 237
- Asian and Pacific Islander8.4% · 119
- Two or more races3.7% · 52
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.1% · 30
Popularity
Carlita: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Carlita from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 334 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1970s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Carlita 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 Carlita during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Carlitas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 6 states and territories. Michigan, California, District of Columbia recorded the most babies named Carlita, while Missouri, Illinois, Florida recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 6 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Carlita
Carlita is a Spanish feminine name derived from the Germanic name Carl, which means "man" or "free man." The name Carl originated from the Old Norse name Karlr, which was a compound of the elements "karl" (meaning "man") and "hrædil" (meaning "counsel" or "advice").
The name Carlita first appeared in Spain and other Spanish-speaking regions during the medieval period. It was a diminutive form of the name Carla, which was a feminine version of the name Carl. Carlita was commonly used as a pet name or nickname for girls named Carla.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Carlita can be found in the 12th-century Spanish epic poem "El Cantar de Mio Cid." In this poem, a character named Carlita is mentioned as the daughter of a nobleman.
Throughout history, several notable women have borne the name Carlita. One of the most famous was Carlita Cervera (1901-1985), a Spanish actress and dancer who gained prominence in the early 20th century. She was known for her performances in Spanish cinema and theater productions.
Another notable Carlita was Carlita Monterey (1933-2011), a Mexican-American actress and singer who appeared in numerous films and television shows in the 1950s and 1960s. She was also a successful recording artist, known for her Spanish-language recordings.
In the literary world, Carlita Sands (1937-2022) was a renowned American poet and author. She published several collections of poetry and received numerous awards and honors for her work.
Carlita Rivero (1943-2001) was a Cuban-American artist and sculptor. She was known for her large-scale public art installations and her work in various media, including metal, wood, and stone.
Finally, Carlita Hunter (1958-2022) was an American actress and singer who performed on Broadway and in various television shows and movies. She was particularly known for her roles in the musicals "Dreamgirls" and "The Wiz."
People
Carlita + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Carlita 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
Carlita: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Carlita?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,110 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Carlita 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 308,788 US residents.
Is Carlita a common name?
We classify Carlita as "Rare". It ranks above 90.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,380 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Carlita most popular?
The single biggest year for Carlita was 1985, when 41 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Carlita 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 Carlita in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,417 people with the name Carlita, or 0.47 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #9,708 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 Carlita 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 Carlita?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Carlita appears almost entirely female. Of the 1,424 people counted with this name, 99.4% 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 Carlita?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Carlita is Black at 41.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (27.8%) and White (16.7%). 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 Carlita most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Carlita in the 2020 Census, accounting for 41.3% (585 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 Carlita in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Carlita a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Carlita 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 Carlita still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Carlita 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 Carlita 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 have Carlita as a first name?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.