Carrey
A French diminutive of Charles, meaning "manly" or "strong".
Name Census estimates that about 47 living Americans carry the first name Carrey. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 88.7% of registrations being female. The average person named Carrey today is around 54 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Carrey births was 1976 (11 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Carrey. 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
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Carrey. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
47
~ 1 in 7,292,645 Americans
Peak year
1976
11 babies that year
Average age
54
years old
1960 SSA rank
#3,716
Tracked since 1960
Census
Carrey in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 184 people with the first name Carrey, which placed it at #40,443 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
#40,443
National first-name rank
People counted
184
184 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
73.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Carrey
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Carrey is White at 73.9%. The next largest groups are Black (10.3%) and Hispanic (5.4%). 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 Carrey 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 Carrey at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White73.9% · 136
- Black or African American10.3% · 19
- Hispanic or Latino5.4% · 10
- Asian and Pacific Islander4.9% · 9
- Two or more races4.3% · 8
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.1% · 2
Gender
Gender distribution for Carrey
Carrey leans heavily female at 88.7% of total registrations, but 6 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Carrey as a male name
- Ranked #3,716 in 1960
- 6 male births in 1960
- Peak: 1960 (6 births)
Carrey as a female name
- Ranked #9,832 in 1977
- 5 female births in 1977
- Peak: 1976 (11 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Carrey on both sides of the split. Of the 192 people counted with this name, 50 were male (26.0%) and 142 were female (74.0%).
Popularity
Carrey: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Carrey from the 1960s through to the 1970s, spanning 2 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 42 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
Carrey 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 Carrey during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Carrey
The name Carrey has its origins in the Middle English language, which was spoken in England from the 11th to the 15th centuries. It is derived from the Old French word "carier," which means "to carry" or "to transport." This suggests that the name may have been associated with professions related to transportation or carrying goods, such as merchants or porters.
In the 12th century, the name appears in the Domesday Book, a comprehensive record of landholders in England commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1086. This early mention indicates that the name was already in use among the Anglo-Norman nobility or landed gentry during the Norman conquest of England.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Carrey was Sir John Carrey, a British explorer and cartographer who lived from 1551 to 1625. He is best known for his detailed maps of the Elizabethan era, including the famous "Carrey's Survey of the Antient Cities of Jerusalem and Hiericho," which he produced after visiting the Holy Land in the late 16th century.
In the 17th century, the name Carrey appears in religious texts and records. For instance, John Carrey (1625-1680) was an English Presbyterian minister and author who wrote several works on theology and Christian doctrine.
During the 18th century, the name gained prominence in the arts and literature. Thomas Carrey (1732-1795) was an English painter and engraver known for his portraits and landscape paintings. Another notable figure was Edward Carrey (1770-1853), an English playwright and author who wrote several popular comedies and farces.
Moving into the 19th century, one of the most famous individuals with the name Carrey was James Carrey (1823-1892), an Irish-American businessman and philanthropist. He founded the Carrey Institute, a pioneering center for the education of the blind and visually impaired in New York City.
These are just a few examples of notable individuals throughout history who bore the first name Carrey. While the name has evolved and taken on various spellings over the centuries, its origins can be traced back to the Middle English language and its association with transportation and carrying activities.
People
Carrey + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Carrey 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
Carrey: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Carrey?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 47 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Carrey 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 7,292,645 US residents.
Is Carrey a common name?
We classify Carrey as "Very Rare". It ranks above 53.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 53 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Carrey most popular?
The single biggest year for Carrey was 1976, when 11 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Carrey is about 54 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Carrey in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 184 people with the name Carrey, or 0.06 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #40,443 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 Carrey 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 Carrey?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Carrey on both sides of the split. Of the 192 people counted with this name, 50 were male (26.0%) and 142 were female (74.0%). 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 Carrey?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Carrey is White at 73.9%. The next largest groups are Black (10.3%) and Hispanic (5.4%). 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 Carrey most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Carrey in the 2020 Census, accounting for 73.9% (136 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 Carrey in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Carrey a female name?
Yes, 88.7% of people registered as Carrey 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 Carrey still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Carrey 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 Carrey 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 Carrey?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.