Carlota
A feminine name of Spanish origin meaning "petite womanly one".
Name Census estimates that about 1,293 living Americans carry the first name Carlota. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Carlota today is around 33 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Carlota births was 2023 (66 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Carlota. 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 Carlota with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
1.3K
~ 1 in 265,085 Americans
Peak year
2023
66 babies that year
Average age
33
years old
2024 SSA rank
#2,795
Tracked since 1887
Census
Carlota in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 3,955 people with the first name Carlota, which placed it at #4,635 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
#4,635
National first-name rank
People counted
4.0K
3,955 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
84.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Carlota
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Carlota is Hispanic at 84.1%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (7.8%) and White (5.5%). 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 Carlota 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 Carlota at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino84.1% · 3,327
- Asian and Pacific Islander7.8% · 307
- White5.5% · 216
- Black or African American2.0% · 78
- Two or more races0.5% · 19
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.2% · 8
Popularity
Carlota: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Carlota from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 351 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Carlota 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 Carlota during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Carlotas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 6 states and territories. Texas, Florida, California recorded the most babies named Carlota, while Georgia, Arizona, New Mexico recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 204 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Carlota
Carlota is a feminine given name of Spanish origin, derived from the Germanic name Charlotta, which is a feminine form of Charles. The name Charles itself comes from the Germanic name Karl, meaning "free man" or "manly." The name Carlota first emerged in medieval Spain, where it was a popular choice among the nobility and royalty.
During the 16th century, the name gained prominence due to its association with Carlota of Bourbon, Princess of Asturias, who was the first wife of King Charles IV of Spain. Born in 1740, Carlota played a significant role in the court and was known for her intelligence and influence.
Another notable figure in history who bore the name Carlota was Princess Carlota Joaquina of Spain, born in 1775. She was the daughter of King Charles IV and Queen Maria Luisa of Parma, and she played a pivotal role in the political intrigues and power struggles of the early 19th century in the Iberian Peninsula.
In the realm of literature, the name Carlota appears in the works of celebrated Spanish authors. One such example is the character Carlota Iturrioz from the novel "El árbol de la ciencia" (The Tree of Knowledge) by Pío Baroja, published in 1911. Carlota Iturrioz is a strong-willed and independent woman who defies societal conventions of the time.
Moving to the 20th century, a notable figure named Carlota was Carlota O'Neill, a Mexican actress born in 1905. She was a prominent figure in the Golden Age of Mexican cinema and starred in numerous films during the 1930s and 1940s, cementing her status as a cultural icon in Mexico.
Another influential woman named Carlota was Carlota Valdivieso, a Chilean architect and urban planner born in 1912. She played a crucial role in the development of modern architecture in Chile and was a pioneer in promoting sustainable urban design principles.
These are just a few examples of notable individuals throughout history who bore the name Carlota, each leaving their mark in their respective fields and contributing to the rich cultural tapestry of the Spanish-speaking world.
People
Carlota + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Carlota 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
Carlota: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Carlota?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,293 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Carlota 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 265,085 US residents.
Is Carlota a common name?
We classify Carlota as "Rare". It ranks above 91.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,419 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Carlota most popular?
The single biggest year for Carlota was 2023, when 66 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Carlota is about 33 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Carlota in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 3,955 people with the name Carlota, or 1.31 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #4,635 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 Carlota 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 Carlota?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Carlota appears almost entirely female. Of the 3,948 people counted with this name, 99.8% 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 Carlota?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Carlota is Hispanic at 84.1%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (7.8%) and White (5.5%). 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 Carlota most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Carlota in the 2020 Census, accounting for 84.1% (3,327 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 Carlota in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Carlota a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Carlota 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 Carlota still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Carlota 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 Carlota 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 are named Carlota?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.