Carryl
A feminine diminutive form of Caroline, deriving from Latin carolus meaning "free man".
Name Census estimates that about 13 living Americans carry the first name Carryl. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Carryl today is around 72 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Carryl births was 1941 (7 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Carryl. 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
- • The typical person named Carryl is about 72 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Carryls were born before 1964.
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Carryl. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
13
~ 1 in 26,365,718 Americans
Peak year
1941
7 babies that year
Average age
72
years old
1965 SSA rank
#5,892
Tracked since 1925
Census
Carryl in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 110 people with the first name Carryl, which placed it at #51,979 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
#51,979
National first-name rank
People counted
110
110 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
70.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Carryl
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Carryl is White at 70.0%. The next largest groups are Black (14.5%) and Two or More Races (8.2%). 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 Carryl 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 Carryl at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White70.0% · 77
- Black or African American14.5% · 16
- Two or more races8.2% · 9
- Hispanic or Latino3.6% · 4
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.7% · 3
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.9% · 1
Popularity
Carryl: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Carryl from the 1920s through to the 1960s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1940s, with 12 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1940s peak, Carryl remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Carryl 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 Carryl 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 Carryl
The name Carryl is believed to have its origins in the Gaelic language, specifically from the Irish and Scottish regions. It is thought to be a variant or derivative of the name Cairell, which was a masculine given name popular in medieval times.
Cairell is derived from the Gaelic words "carr" meaning "cart" or "chariot" and "ell" meaning "champion" or "warrior". Therefore, the name Carryl can be interpreted to mean "cart warrior" or "chariot champion". This likely stems from the historical significance of chariots and carts in warfare and transportation during ancient times in Celtic cultures.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Carryl can be found in the Annals of Ulster, a chronicle of medieval Irish history. In the entry for the year 1182, a man named "Carryl Mac Duinnshleibhe" is mentioned as a participant in a battle.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Carryl. One such person was Carryl Houselander (1901-1954), an English Catholic religious writer and artist. Her works explored themes of spirituality, prayer, and the role of the Virgin Mary.
Another prominent figure was Carryl Churchill (1938-), a British playwright known for her experimental and politically charged plays such as "Top Girls" and "Cloud Nine". She has received numerous accolades, including the Obie Award and the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize.
In the realm of sports, Carryl Krueger (1914-1959) was an American professional baseball player who played as a catcher in Major League Baseball from 1937 to 1949. He was part of the St. Louis Cardinals team that won the World Series in 1942.
Carryl Ranson III (1949-2019) was an American jazz pianist, composer, and educator. He performed with renowned artists such as Dizzy Gillespie and Art Blakey and was a faculty member at the Berklee College of Music for over 30 years.
Another notable figure was Carryl Plunkett (1853-1924), an Irish politician and judge. He served as a Member of Parliament for the Irish Parliamentary Party and later became a County Court judge in Ireland.
While the name Carryl is not as common today as it once was, its rich historical roots and unique meaning have been carried through the centuries by individuals from various walks of life, leaving an indelible mark on their respective fields.
People
Carryl + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Carryl 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
Carryl: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Carryl?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 13 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Carryl 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 26,365,718 US residents.
Is Carryl a common name?
We classify Carryl as "Very Rare". It ranks above 33.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 28 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Carryl most popular?
The single biggest year for Carryl was 1941, when 7 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Carryl is about 72 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Carryl in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 110 people with the name Carryl, or 0.04 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #51,979 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 Carryl 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 Carryl?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Carryl leans strongly female. 88 people counted with this name were female (84.6%), compared with 16 male bearers (15.4%). 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 Carryl?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Carryl is White at 70.0%. The next largest groups are Black (14.5%) and Two or More Races (8.2%). 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 Carryl most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Carryl in the 2020 Census, accounting for 70.0% (77 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 Carryl in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Carryl a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Carryl 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 Carryl still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Carryl 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 Carryl 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 have the name Carryl?
For a quick modern take, check how many people share the name Carryl on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org.