Carly
A feminine diminutive form of the Germanic name "Carl" meaning "free man".
Name Census estimates that about 64,307 living Americans carry the first name Carly. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Carly today is around 28 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Carly births was 1995 (2,585 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Carly. 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 Carly with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Carly is used almost entirely for girls, the SSA data does show 160 boys registered with the name since 1880.
People living today
64K
~ 1 in 5,330 Americans
Peak year
1995
2,585 babies that year
Average age
28
years old
2007 SSA rank
#873
Tracked since 1951
Census
Carly in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 62,426 people with the first name Carly, which placed it at #789 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
#789
National first-name rank
People counted
62K
62,426 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
20.7
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
86.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Carly
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Carly is White at 86.1%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (6.6%) and Two or More Races (3.4%). 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 Carly 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 Carly at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White86.1% · 53,720
- Hispanic or Latino6.6% · 4,124
- Two or more races3.4% · 2,131
- Black or African American2.0% · 1,278
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.4% · 855
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.5% · 318
Gender
Gender distribution for Carly
Out of the 66,374 babies given the name Carly since 1880, 99.8% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Carly as a male name
- Ranked #11,138 in 2007
- 6 male births in 2007
- Peak: 1986 (14 births)
Carly as a female name
- Ranked #873 in 2024
- 308 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1995 (2,585 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Carly appears almost entirely female. Of the 62,430 people counted with this name, 99.6% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Carly: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Carly from the 1950s through to the 2020s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 22,842 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1990s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Carly 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 Carly during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Carlys live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. California, Pennsylvania, New York recorded the most babies named Carly, while Wyoming, District of Columbia, Rhode Island recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 1,269 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Carly
The given name Carly is an English feminine name that derived from the masculine name Carl, which has its origins in the Old Norse language. Carl is a contracted form of the Germanic name Karl, which means "free man" or "husband." The name Karl is believed to have been introduced to England by the Normans, following their conquest in 1066.
The earliest recorded use of the name Carly as a feminine form can be traced back to the late 19th century. It gained popularity in the 20th century, particularly in English-speaking countries like the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. The name Carly is often considered a diminutive or pet form of the names Carla or Caroline.
In terms of historical references, the name Carly does not appear to have any significant mentions in ancient texts, religious scriptures, or historical records. However, there have been several notable individuals who have borne this name throughout history.
One of the earliest recorded examples of a person named Carly was Carly Fiorina, an American businesswoman and political figure born in 1954. She served as the CEO of Hewlett-Packard from 1999 to 2005 and ran for the Republican nomination for President of the United States in 2016.
Another prominent figure with the name Carly was Carly Simon, an American singer-songwriter born in 1945. She is known for hits such as "You're So Vain," "Anticipation," and "Nobody Does It Better," which won an Academy Award for Best Original Song.
In the field of literature, Carly Churchill was a British novelist and writer born in 1938. She is best known for her critically acclaimed novel "Hubert's Freaks," which explored themes of love, loss, and the human condition.
Carly Rae Jepsen, a Canadian singer-songwriter born in 1985, rose to fame with her hit single "Call Me Maybe," which became an international sensation and earned her multiple awards and nominations.
Lastly, Carly Rae Fiorina, an American lawyer and politician born in 1954, is another notable figure who shares the same name. She served as the Chairwoman and CEO of Hewlett-Packard from 1999 to 2005 and ran for the Republican nomination for President of the United States in 2016.
People
Carly + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Carly 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
Carly: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Carly?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 64,307 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Carly 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 5,330 US residents.
Is Carly a common name?
We classify Carly as "Uncommon". It ranks above 99.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 66,374 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Carly most popular?
The single biggest year for Carly was 1995, when 2,585 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Carly is about 28 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Carly in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 62,426 people with the name Carly, or 20.67 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #789 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 Carly 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 Carly?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Carly appears almost entirely female. Of the 62,430 people counted with this name, 99.6% 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 Carly?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Carly is White at 86.1%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (6.6%) and Two or More Races (3.4%). 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 Carly most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Carly in the 2020 Census, accounting for 86.1% (53,720 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 Carly in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Carly a female name?
Yes, 99.8% of people registered as Carly 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 Carly still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Carly 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 Carly 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 Carly?
Find out how many Americans are named Carly on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.