Caroll
A masculine name of French origin meaning "Free man".
Name Census estimates that about 976 living Americans carry the first name Caroll. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 62.7% of registrations being female. The average person named Caroll today is around 72 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Caroll births was 1946 (86 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Caroll. 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
- • Caroll sits in rare territory as a truly gender-neutral name, given to boys and girls in near-equal numbers.
- • The typical person named Caroll is about 72 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Carolls were born before 1964.
People living today
976
~ 1 in 351,183 Americans
Peak year
1946
86 babies that year
Average age
72
years old
1979 SSA rank
#5,454
Tracked since 1912
Gender
Gender distribution for Caroll
Caroll is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 2,078 total registrations, 776 (37.3%) were male and 1,302 (62.7%) were female.
Caroll as a male name
- Ranked #5,454 in 1979
- 6 male births in 1979
- Peak: 1939 (26 births)
Caroll as a female name
- Ranked #16,976 in 2005
- 5 female births in 2005
- Peak: 1946 (65 births)
Popularity
Caroll: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Caroll from the 1910s through to the 2000s, spanning 10 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1940s, with 639 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
Caroll 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 Caroll during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Carolls live
The SSA's state-level files cover 11 states and territories. California, Illinois, Michigan recorded the most babies named Caroll, while Wisconsin, Kentucky, Indiana recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 14 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Caroll
The name Caroll is a variant spelling of the traditionally masculine given name Carroll. Its origins can be traced back to an Old Norman word meaning "free man" or "peasant." The name likely emerged in England during the Middle Ages, following the Norman Conquest of 1066.
Historically, the name Carroll was sometimes used as a surname, derived from the Anglo-Norman word "carrol" or "caruel," meaning a cart or wagon driver. However, its usage as a first name likely arose from its association with freedom and independence.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Caroll dates back to the 13th century, when a man named Caroll de Bure was mentioned in the Hundred Rolls of Norfolk, England, in 1273. This document was a census-like record of landholders and their holdings.
In the realm of literature, the name Caroll gained prominence through the works of Lewis Carroll, the pen name of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (1832-1898), the acclaimed English writer known for his beloved classics "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" and "Through the Looking-Glass."
Other notable individuals who bore the name Caroll include:
1. Caroll Spinney (1933-2019), an American puppeteer best known for portraying the iconic Sesame Street characters Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch.
2. Caroll Shelby (1923-2012), an American automotive designer, race car driver, and entrepreneur who founded the Shelby American automobile company.
3. Caroll Borland (1914-2002), an American actress and dancer who appeared in several horror films during the 1930s and 1940s, including "Mark of the Vampire" and "The Ghost of Frankenstein."
4. Caroll Michels (1913-1991), an American lawyer and legal scholar who served as the chairman of the Legal Services Corporation, an organization dedicated to providing legal assistance to low-income individuals.
5. Caroll Herman Little (1872-1958), an American businessman and philanthropist who founded the Higbee Company, a prominent department store chain in Cleveland, Ohio.
While the name Caroll may not be as common today as it once was, its historical significance and associations with freedom, literature, and notable individuals have left an enduring legacy.
People
Caroll + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Caroll 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
Caroll: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Caroll?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 976 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Caroll 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 351,183 US residents.
Is Caroll a common name?
We classify Caroll as "Very Rare". It ranks above 89.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,078 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Caroll most popular?
The single biggest year for Caroll was 1946, when 86 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Caroll is about 72 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Caroll a female name?
Yes, 62.7% of people registered as Caroll 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.
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.