Carlis
Masculine · “Free man”
Carlis is given to both — 1,221 boys and 178 girls since 1880. See other names given to both
The Christmas carol has nothing to do with the name Charles. A carol was a ring dance with singing, from a French word that came from Greek by way of a wind instrument, and it acquired its association with Christmas only after several centuries of being sung at every other time of year as well.
How old is the name Carlis?
Carlis first appears in US birth records in 1912 — 113 years ago. The typical Carlis alive today was born around 1949, making them about 76 years old. About 600 people named Carlis are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Carlis most popular?
Carlis peaked in 1946, reaching #1327 nationally. See the whole 1946 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Karl to Carlis
The story of Carlis
The word carole in Old French meant a dance in a ring with a leader singing and the dancers answering, and it was danced in churchyards and on village greens all year until the church tried repeatedly to stop it. The connection to Christmas came slowly, through the custom of singing at the great feasts, and the specifically Christmas carol as a printed and published thing is largely a Victorian revival of something that had nearly died. The Greek word at the bottom of it, choraules, means a piper who accompanied a chorus. So a word that once meant a man with a flute leading a ring dance now means a hymn sung in December, and it has never at any point had anything to do with a name meaning a free man.
Meaning
Free man
The Germanic word behind Carl and Charles described a free man of no rank. The s at the end of this spelling is an American addition and is not a genitive, whatever it looks like; it belongs to a small set of names built by adding a consonant to make a short name longer, in the way that Otis and Ellis are shaped.
How the name formed
- Karl
- Carl
- Carlis
Pronouncing Carlis
KAR-liss
Two syllables with the stress at the front. The final s is unvoiced, as in miss rather than as in his, which is what distinguishes it from Carlos in speech as well as on paper.
Nicknames for Carlis
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
- 1912
- Most boys named
- 195627 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1327reached in 1946
- Change vs 1999
- −33.3%6 in 2012, from 9
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.
Carliss among us
people named Carlis are estimated to be alive in the US today
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
Questions parents actually ask
Fashion outlook
Carlis sits outside the current charts, and that is its own kind of answer: naming cycles can only date the names they carried up. A name this rare has no decade stamped on it — it cannot go out of fashion, because it was never in.
Based on 146 years of naming cycles. How we read them
The trade-off
- Short, firm and easy to spell once heard, with a clear meaning behind the first half.
- Carl sits inside it as a plain one-syllable everyday name.
- It works for a child of either sex, which the record confirms.
- The record carries this spelling for girls as well as boys, so it signals nothing on a form.
- It will be heard as Carlos and as Charles, and both are commoner.
- The added s has no meaning, so half the name cannot be explained.
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What they receive
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Carlis
Masculine
Frequently asked
- How many Carliss are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 600 people named Carlis are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Carlis in 2025?
- Carlis is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 boy names.
- Will my child share the name Carlis with classmates?
- Carlis will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More C names
The most-given names starting with C, all years combined.
Charles#48 · Christopher#68 · Carl#1132 · Christian#96 · Caleb#58 · Cameron#76 · Carlos#150 · Clarence#1499
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Carlis? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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