Carol
Masculine · “free man”
Carol is given to girls far more often — 816,928 girls against 8,656 boys since 1880. See Carol as a girl name
Carol for a son is the older use — it is Charles in Latin, the form the Romanian kings used, and the word behind it is a free man.
How old is the name Carol?
Carol first appears in US birth records in 1884 — 141 years ago. The typical Carol alive today was born around 1937, making them about 88 years old. About 3,000 people named Carol are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Carol most popular?
Carol peaked in 1937, reaching #324 nationally. See the whole 1937 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From karl to Carol
The story of Carol
Carolus was how Charlemagne's name was written, and it became the Latin form used across Europe; Carol was the Romanian royal form, carried by two twentieth-century kings. English used Carol for boys through the nineteenth century as a variant of Charles. The overwhelming feminine use arrived from the 1930s, and the masculine peaked around 1940.
Meaning
free man
Through Carolus, the Latin of Charles, from the Germanic karl, 'free man' or 'churl' — a man who was neither noble nor slave. The English word 'churl' is the same word with a different history. The Christmas carol is unrelated, from the Old French carole, a ring dance.
How the name formed
- karl
- Carolus
- Carol
Related forms: Carol · Carlo · Karol
Pronouncing Carol
KAIR-ul
Two syllables, stress on the first. Romanian says kah-ROL with the stress on the second.
Nicknames for Carol
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
- 1884
- Most boys named
- 1937278 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #324reached in 1937
- Change vs 2006
- 0.0%5 in 2009, 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.
Carol in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Carol in Romanian — same name
- Carlo in Italian — related form
- Karol in Polish — related form
Carols among us
people named Carol 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
Carol 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
- The free-man meaning is concrete and records a real medieval social category.
- Charlemagne and two Romanian kings carry the name in its Latin form.
- Carl and Charlie are both available as short forms.
- In English the name now reads as overwhelmingly feminine.
- The Christmas word is a homophone and is not the source.
- The masculine use is period-coded to the early twentieth century.
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What they receive
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Carol
Masculine
Frequently asked
- How many Carols are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 3,000 people named Carol are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Carol in 2025?
- Carol is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 boy names.
- Will my child share the name Carol with classmates?
- Carol 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 Carol? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Carol and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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