Decarlo
An Italian masculine name meaning "from Charles", derived from the French variant of the name.
Name Census estimates that about 604 living Americans carry the first name Decarlo. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Decarlo today is around 38 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Decarlo births was 1978 (26 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Decarlo. 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
604
~ 1 in 567,474 Americans
Peak year
1978
26 babies that year
Average age
38
years old
2021 SSA rank
#12,566
Tracked since 1953
Census
Decarlo in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 500 people with the first name Decarlo, which placed it at #20,593 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
#20,593
National first-name rank
People counted
500
500 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
84.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Decarlo
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Decarlo is Black at 84.8%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (8.2%) and Two or More Races (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 Decarlo 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 Decarlo at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American84.8% · 424
- Hispanic or Latino8.2% · 41
- Two or more races2.8% · 14
- White2.6% · 13
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.2% · 6
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.4% · 2
Popularity
Decarlo: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Decarlo from the 1950s through to the 2020s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 174 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1970s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Decarlo 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 Decarlo during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Decarlos live
Origin
Meaning and history of Decarlo
The given name Decarlo has its origins in Italian culture and language, dating back to the late Middle Ages or the Renaissance period. It is believed to be a combination of the Italian prefix "de" meaning "from" and the name "Carlo," which is the Italian variant of the name Charles, derived from the Germanic "Karl."
One theory suggests that the name Decarlo may have originated as a surname, indicating a person's place of origin or family lineage. It could have been used to identify someone as being "from Carlo's family" or "from the place called Carlo." Over time, some families may have adopted this surname as a first name.
Historically, the earliest recorded instances of the name Decarlo appear in various Italian records and documents from the 15th and 16th centuries. During this period, the Italian Renaissance was flourishing, and many artists, writers, and scholars gained prominence, some of whom may have borne this name.
One notable figure in history with the name Decarlo was Decarlo Calvi (1508-1572), an Italian painter and architect who worked in the Mannerist style. He was known for his frescoes and architectural designs in various churches and palaces in Rome and other Italian cities.
Another individual of historical significance was Decarlo Bianchi (1587-1647), an Italian mathematician and astronomer. He made important contributions to the study of celestial mechanics and was a proponent of the heliocentric model of the solar system proposed by Copernicus.
In the realm of literature, Decarlo Foscolo (1778-1827) was an Italian writer, poet, and patriot. He is considered one of the leading figures of the Italian Romantic movement and is best known for his novel "The Last Letters of Jacopo Ortis," which explored themes of love, patriotism, and the struggle against oppression.
During the 19th century, Decarlo Rossetti (1824-1892) was an Italian painter and writer associated with the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood in England. He is renowned for his artworks depicting scenes from literature and mythology, as well as his contributions to the revival of the Italian poetic tradition.
Another notable figure was Decarlo Croce (1866-1952), an Italian philosopher, historian, and critic. He was a leading proponent of the philosophy of historicism and made significant contributions to the fields of aesthetics, ethics, and political theory.
While these are a few examples of historical figures who bore the name Decarlo, it is important to note that the name's usage may have varied across different regions and time periods within Italy and beyond.
People
Decarlo + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Decarlo as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with D
Other first names starting with D with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Decarlo: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Decarlo?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 604 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Decarlo 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 567,474 US residents.
Is Decarlo a common name?
We classify Decarlo as "Very Rare". It ranks above 86.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 635 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Decarlo most popular?
The single biggest year for Decarlo was 1978, when 26 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Decarlo is about 38 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Decarlo in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 500 people with the name Decarlo, or 0.17 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #20,593 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 Decarlo 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 Decarlo?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Decarlo leans strongly male. 474 people counted with this name were male (94.8%), compared with 26 female bearers (5.2%). 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 Decarlo?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Decarlo is Black at 84.8%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (8.2%) and Two or More Races (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 Decarlo most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Decarlo in the 2020 Census, accounting for 84.8% (424 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 Decarlo in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Decarlo a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Decarlo in the SSA data are male. 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 Decarlo still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Decarlo 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 Decarlo 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 Americans are named Decarlo?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.