Carlon
Masculine · “Free man”
Carlon is given to both — 863 boys and 187 girls since 1880. See other names given to both
Carlon adds an ending to a short, plain name, and it belongs to a fashion that ran for men in the same decades that a different ending was doing the same work for women.
How old is the name Carlon?
Carlon first appears in US birth records in 1921 — 104 years ago. The typical Carlon alive today was born around 1965, making them about 60 years old. About 600 people named Carlon are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Carlon most popular?
Carlon peaked in 1944, reaching #1810 nationally. See the whole 1944 chart.
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
The story of Carlon
American naming in the first half of the last century had two productive endings running at once, one for each sex. Women's names took a suffix off Lynn; men's names took one off the surnames ending in -on, and both were attached to short familiar names to produce something longer and more formal-sounding. Carlon, Delton, Verlon, Harlon, Wilburn. The two fashions ran in parallel, in the same households, and ended at roughly the same time. What is left in the record is a generation of names that all look built because they are, and that sound old-fashioned now for the same reason every fashion does: the people who chose them have stopped choosing.
Meaning
Free man
The name at the front is the Germanic word for a man, specifically a free one, which gave Karl, Carolus and Charles. The ending added here carries no meaning; it lengthens the name and marks the decade it was built in.
Pronouncing Carlon
KAR-lun
Two syllables, stress at the front. The ending is unstressed.
Nicknames for Carlon
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
- 1921
- Most boys named
- 193815 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1810reached in 1944
- Change vs 2014
- 0.0%5 in 2022, from 5
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.
Carlons among us
people named Carlon 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
Carlon 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
- It contains a complete and very old name that can be used alone.
- It is read correctly on sight with nothing difficult in it.
- It is genuinely rare now.
- Carlton and Carlan are both nearby and his will be written as one of them.
- Most children with this spelling are boys, but a real minority are girls; either may be taken for the other.
- The ending carries no meaning.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
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Carlon
Masculine
Frequently asked
- How many Carlons 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 Carlon are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Carlon in 2025?
- Carlon is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 boy names.
- Will my child share the name Carlon with classmates?
- Carlon 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 Carlon? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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