Carol
A feminine name derived from the ancient Greek word 'karolos' meaning a free person.
Name Census estimates that about 445,676 living Americans carry the first name Carol. It is a predominantly female name (99.0% of registrations). The average person named Carol today is around 71 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Carol births was 1946 (34,457 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Carol. 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 Carol with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Carol is used almost entirely for girls, the SSA data does show 8,656 boys registered with the name since 1880.
- • The typical person named Carol is about 71 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Carols were born before 1965.
- • Compared to the 1940s, recent registration numbers for Carol have dropped to less than 5% of what they once were.
People living today
446K
~ 1 in 769 Americans
Peak year
1946
34,457 babies that year
Average age
71
years old
2009 SSA rank
#2,631
Tracked since 1880
Census
Carol in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 614,461 people with the first name Carol, which placed it at #68 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
#68
National first-name rank
People counted
614K
614,461 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
203.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
88.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Carol
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Carol is White at 88.8%. The next largest groups are Black (5.1%) and Hispanic (2.8%). 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 Carol 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 Carol at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White88.8% · 545,407
- Black or African American5.1% · 31,176
- Hispanic or Latino2.8% · 17,171
- Two or more races1.6% · 9,625
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.3% · 7,847
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.5% · 3,235
Gender
Gender distribution for Carol
Carol leans heavily female at 99.0% of total registrations, but 8,656 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Carol as a male name
- Ranked #12,776 in 2009
- 5 male births in 2009
- Peak: 1937 (278 births)
Carol as a female name
- Ranked #2,631 in 2024
- 66 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1946 (34,283 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Carol appears almost entirely female. Of the 614,466 people counted with this name, 99.6% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Carol: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Carol from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1940s, with 294,288 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1940s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Carol 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 Carol during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Carols live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. New York, Pennsylvania, California recorded the most babies named Carol, while Alaska, Nevada, Wyoming recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 16,038 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Carol
The name Carol has its origins in the Late Latin word 'Carolus', which was derived from the Germanic word 'Karlaz'. This word meant 'free man' or 'nobleman'. The name Carol emerged as a feminine form of the masculine name Charles, which was widely used across Europe during the Middle Ages and later periods.
Carol can be traced back to the 9th century AD, when it was popularized by the Frankish king Charlemagne, whose name in French was 'Charles'. The name gained widespread recognition and became a common name for both men and women across Europe during the medieval period.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Carol can be found in the 12th century, when a woman named Carol of Lorraine was mentioned in historical records. She was the daughter of the Duke of Lorraine and lived from around 1145 to 1198.
In the 14th century, a notable figure named Carol of Blois, who lived from 1319 to 1364, was the wife of the Count of Blois and played a significant role in the Hundred Years' War between England and France.
The name Carol was also used in literature, appearing in works such as the 14th-century poem "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight", where a character named Lady Carol is mentioned.
During the Renaissance period, the name Carol gained popularity among the upper classes. One notable figure was Carol Cheseman, an English noblewoman who lived from 1520 to 1572 and was a member of the court of Queen Elizabeth I.
In the 17th century, the name Carol was associated with the Christmas carol tradition, as the word 'carol' was derived from the same root as the name. This association further popularized the name, particularly in English-speaking countries.
Over the centuries, several other notable individuals have borne the name Carol, including Carol of Brandenburg (1502-1575), a German princess; Carol of Sweden (1776-1826), a Swedish princess and duchess; and Carol Gilligan (1936-), an American feminist philosopher and ethicist.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Carol
People
Carol + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Carol 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
Carol: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Carol?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 445,676 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Carol 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 769 US residents.
Is Carol a common name?
We classify Carol as "Common". It ranks above 99.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 825,494 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Carol most popular?
The single biggest year for Carol was 1946, when 34,457 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Carol is about 71 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Carol in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 614,461 people with the name Carol, or 203.44 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #68 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 Carol 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 Carol?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Carol appears almost entirely female. Of the 614,466 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 Carol?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Carol is White at 88.8%. The next largest groups are Black (5.1%) and Hispanic (2.8%). 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 Carol most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Carol in the 2020 Census, accounting for 88.8% (545,407 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 Carol in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Carol a female name?
Yes, 99.0% of people registered as Carol 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 Carol still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Carol 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 Carol 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 common is the name Carol?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many people have the name Carol at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.