Carlina
Feminine · “little Carla”
There is a thistle called the carline, and the story attached to it involves Charlemagne. An angel is said to have shown him the plant while plague ran through his army, and the root cured them; the plant kept his name. Whether or not any of that happened, the plant is real, the name is real, and Carlina is also, quite separately, the ordinary Italian and Spanish way of making Carla smaller and fonder.
How old is the name Carlina?
Carlina first appears in US birth records in 1942 — 83 years ago. The typical Carlina alive today was born around 1993, making them about 32 years old. About 1,100 people named Carlina are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Carlina most popular?
Carlina peaked in 1976, reaching #2932 nationally. Today it ranks #13208, 10,276 places below that high. See the whole 1976 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From karl to Carlina
The story of Carlina
Italian and Spanish build affection into a name by adding a syllable rather than cutting one: Carla becomes Carlina, Paola becomes Paolina, Ana becomes Anita. Those diminutives frequently become standing names in their own right, which is what happened here — Carlina is given as a full name across southern Europe and Latin America, not merely used at home. American records carry it from Italian and Spanish-speaking families, and it has stayed uncommon here throughout. The thistle, meanwhile, still grows across the Alps and still carries the emperor's name on every botanical label.
Meaning
little Carla; a free man's daughter
From Carla, the Italian and Spanish feminine of Carlo and Carlos, with the -ina ending that both languages use to make a diminutive. Behind Carla is the Germanic karl, a free man. The botanical carline thistle carries the same root by way of the Charlemagne legend, which is a coincidence of the pleasant kind rather than a source.
How the name formed
- karl
- Carlo
- Carla
- Carlina
Related forms: Carlina · Carlina · Carlina · Karline
Pronouncing Carlina
kar-LEE-nuh
Three syllables, stress in the middle, with the i long. English speakers occasionally say kar-LYE-nuh, which the spelling permits but neither Italian nor Spanish does.
Nicknames for Carlina
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
- 1942
- Most girls named
- 201232 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2932reached in 1976
- Change vs 2024
- 0.0%6 in 2025, from 6
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.
Carlina in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Carlina in Italian — same name
- Carlina in Spanish — same name
- Carlina in Portuguese — same name
- Karline in German — related form
Carlinas among us
people named Carlina are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 267,878 born in 2025 was named Carlina
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Carlina
- #13208
- Carlina on the 2025 chart
- #949
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Carlina went to 6 girls in 2025, but Karlina is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 11, which makes it the 949th most-given girls’ name of the year — 12,259 places above the chart.
- Carlina6
- Karlina5
About 1 girl in 146,115 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 267,878 for Carlina itself.
Spellings are grouped by a fixed rule that folds interchangeable English spellings of one sound (ck/k, ph/f, x/ks, a non-initial y for i) and keeps vowels apart, so Sean and Shawn stay separate names. It errs towards splitting: a family here is never larger than the truth. SSA national data, 2025. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Mellody test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Carlina's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Mellody climbed just as high around 1956, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Mellody's path sketches the road Carlina is walking now.
Carlina 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
Carlina beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Carlina in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- It is a real name in three languages rather than an American extension.
- Carla and Lina are both complete names, so it shortens two ways.
- The meaning is clean and the story attached to the thistle is worth telling.
- Three open syllables sit well after almost any surname.
- Carolina and Carlena sit close by and will be written instead.
- The middle vowel is occasionally mishandled by English readers.
- It is a diminutive by construction, which some people will point out even though it is a full name in its own right.
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What they receive
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Carlina
Feminine · #13208 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Carlinas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,100 people named Carlina are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Carlina?
- Carlina is the most-used spelling in US records — 6 of the 11 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Karlina.
- How popular is the name Carlina in 2025?
- Carlina ranks #13208 among US girl names in 2025, with 6 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Carlina?
- About 1 in every 267,878 US girls born in 2025 was named Carlina — 6 in all.
- Will my child share the name Carlina with classmates?
- Carlina will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Carlina
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
John#13208 · Vinnie#13208 · Margery#13208 · Jossie#13208 · Tressa#13208 · Erie#13208 · Bernadine#13208 · Euna#13208
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Carlina? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Carlina and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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