Carlene
Feminine · “a free man's daughter”
One silent letter separates Carlene from Charlene, and it is not silent at all. The h in Charlene turns the c into a sh; without it the c is a k. So two names that look like variations of each other start with completely different sounds, and the difference rests on a letter English readers barely register.
How old is the name Carlene?
Carlene first appears in US birth records in 1895 — 130 years ago. The typical Carlene alive today was born around 1953, making them about 72 years old. About 10,500 people named Carlene are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Carlene most popular?
Carlene peaked in 1936, reaching #378 nationally. Today it ranks #14942, 14,564 places below that high. See the whole 1936 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From karl to Carlene
The story of Carlene
Charles produced an unusually large family of women's names in English, arriving from several directions: Charlotte from French, Caroline from the Latin, Carla from Italian, and then the American -ene and -lene endings of the 1920s and 1930s attached to whatever front element was available. Carlene and Charlene both belong to that last wave and both peaked between the wars. Carlene appears in the record from 1895 and reached its height in 1936.
Meaning
a free man's daughter
From the Germanic karl, which meant a free man of no particular rank — not a noble and not a servant. The irony of the name is that it became the word for a king across half of Europe, since the Slavic král and the Hungarian király both descend from Charlemagne's name rather than from any word for royalty.
How the name formed
- karl
- Carl
- Carlene
Related forms: Carlina · Karline · Charline
Pronouncing Carlene
kar-LEEN
Two syllables with the stress at the back. The c is a hard k because there is no h after it; Charlene, with the h, begins with a sh — which is the one genuine difference between the two names.
Nicknames for Carlene
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1895
- Most girls named
- 1958355 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #378reached in 1936
- Change vs 2023
- −28.6%5 in 2025, from 7
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Carlene in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Carlina in Italian — related form
- Karline in German — related form
- Charline in French — related form
Carlenes among us
people named Carlene are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 321,453 born in 2025 was named Carlene
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Garnet test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Carlene's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Garnet climbed just as high around 1911, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Garnet's path sketches the road Carlene is walking now.
Carlene sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Carlene beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Carlene in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Carly is available and is entirely current as a standing name.
- The Germanic word behind it is documented and its later career as a word for kings is a good line.
- Seven letters, two syllables, and readable on sight.
- Charlene is commoner and begins with a different sound, so the two are confused constantly in both directions.
- It belongs to a mid-century American generation and carries that flavor.
- Carleen and Karlene both appear, so the spelling has to be given.
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What they receive
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Carlene
Feminine · #14942 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Carlenes are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 10,500 people named Carlene are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Carlene in 2025?
- Carlene ranks #14942 among US girl names in 2025, with 5 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Carlene?
- About 1 in every 321,453 US girls born in 2025 was named Carlene — 5 in all.
- Will my child share the name Carlene with classmates?
- Carlene will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Carlene
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Hester#14942 · Lyda#14942 · Zula#14942 · Zona#14942 · Ula#14942 · Belva#14942 · Lucetta#14942 · Leala#14942
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Carlene? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Carlene and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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