Carolyne
A feminine name derived from the Germanic masculine name Karl, meaning "free man".
Name Census estimates that about 2,131 living Americans carry the first name Carolyne. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Carolyne today is around 48 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Carolyne births was 1942 (108 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Carolyne. 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.
People living today
2.1K
~ 1 in 160,842 Americans
Peak year
1942
108 babies that year
Average age
48
years old
2024 SSA rank
#13,766
Tracked since 1882
Popularity
Carolyne: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Carolyne 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 813 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
Carolyne 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 Carolyne during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Carolynes live
The SSA's state-level files cover 17 states and territories. California, Texas, New York recorded the most babies named Carolyne, while Virginia, North Carolina, Mississippi recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 34 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Carolyne
The name Carolyne is derived from the Late Latin name Carolus, which is the masculine form of the feminine name Carola. Carolus is derived from the Germanic name Karl, which comes from the Old Frankish word "karl", meaning "man" or "warrior".
The name Carolyne is believed to have originated in the 8th century AD, during the reign of the Frankish king Charlemagne, also known as Charles the Great. Charlemagne was a dominant figure in the history of Western Europe and was the first ruler to unite most of Western and Central Europe.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Carolyne appears in the 11th century, in the form of Carolingia, which was the name of a noble family from the Duchy of Lorraine. The family claimed descent from Charlemagne, and the name Carolingia was derived from the Latin name Carolus.
Throughout history, there have been several notable women named Carolyne. One of the most famous was Carolyne Leckampion (1598-1677), a French Catholic nun and mystic who founded the Congregation of Our Lady of Calvary in Paris.
Another notable Carolyne was Carolyne Beatrix Gilman (1749-1793), an American writer and poet who is considered one of the first female writers in America to have her work published. Her collection of poems, "Memoirs of a New England Village" was published in 1792.
In the 19th century, Carolyne Elizabeth Sarah Norton (1808-1877) was a prominent English society beauty, writer, and social reformer. She is remembered for her campaign to improve the rights of married women in England, and for her scandalous relationship with the Prime Minister, Lord Melbourne.
In the early 20th century, Carolyne Caroline Burke (1897-1964) was an American journalist and author who wrote extensively about the Harlem Renaissance and the civil rights movement. Her best-known work is the book "The New Negro: An Interpretation", published in 1925.
Another notable Carolyne from the 20th century was Carolyne Lenora Snowden (1919-1996), an American civil rights activist and educator who played a key role in the desegregation of schools in Little Rock, Arkansas, in 1957.
People
Carolyne + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Carolyne 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
Carolyne: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Carolyne?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2,131 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Carolyne 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 160,842 US residents.
Is Carolyne a common name?
We classify Carolyne as "Rare". It ranks above 93.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 3,578 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Carolyne most popular?
The single biggest year for Carolyne was 1942, when 108 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Carolyne is about 48 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Carolyne a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Carolyne 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.