Carola
Feminine · “free man”
Charlemagne's Latin name was Carolus, and he became so completely the idea of a king that Slavic languages took his name and made it the word for one: kral in Czech, krol in Polish, korol in Russian. Carola is a feminine of that same word, a long way downstream.
How old is the name Carola?
Carola first appears in US birth records in 1894 — 131 years ago. The typical Carola alive today was born around 1951, making them about 74 years old. About 700 people named Carola are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Carola most popular?
Carola peaked in 1894, reaching #1061 nationally. Today it ranks #10917, 9,856 places below that high. See the whole 1894 chart.
Where it comes from
From karl to Carola
The story of Carola
Karl was an ordinary Germanic word before it was a name, and it took one man to change that. Charles the Great ruled most of western Europe, was crowned emperor in Rome in the year 800, and left his name embedded in the languages of people he never governed: the Slavic word for king is his name with the vowels moved. In the West the name went the other way and multiplied instead, gathering feminines as it went — Carla and Carola in Italian and German, Caroline in French, Charlotte from a diminutive of Charles. Carola is the shortest of the Latinate feminines and the one that stayed closest to the original spelling.
Meaning
free man
From Germanic karl, which meant a man and then specifically a free man, as opposed to a serf. Latinized as Carolus, it produced Charles, Karl, Carlo, Carlos, Carol, Caroline, Charlotte and Carola, which is one of the largest single-root name families in Europe.
How the name formed
- karl
- Carolus
- Carola
Related forms: Carola · Carola · Carola · Carola
Pronouncing Carola
kah-ROH-lah
Three syllables, stress on the middle, in German, Italian, Swedish and Spanish alike. English speakers often front-load it as CARE-uh-luh, which is the one saying no other language uses.
Nicknames for Carola
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
- 1894
- Most girls named
- 195125 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1061reached in 1894
- Change vs 2023
- 0.0%8 in 2025, from 8
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.
Carola in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Carola in German — same name
- Carola in Italian — same name
- Carola in Swedish — same name
- Carola in Spanish — same name
Carolas among us
people named Carola are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 200,908 born in 2025 was named Carola
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
Fashion outlook
Carola 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
Carola beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Carola in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- A documented meaning and one of the longest naming records in Europe.
- Said the same way in four languages, and spelled the same in all of them.
- Three short forms, two of which are full names elsewhere.
- English and European speakers stress it differently, so relatives may not agree on it.
- It is heard as Carol, as Carla and as Corolla, and all three corrections will happen.
- It is strongly represented among older generations in Europe, which gives it a particular period sound.
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What they receive
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Carola
Feminine · #10917 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Carolas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 700 people named Carola are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Carola in 2025?
- Carola ranks #10917 among US girl names in 2025, with 8 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Carola?
- About 1 in every 200,908 US girls born in 2025 was named Carola — 8 in all.
- Will my child share the name Carola with classmates?
- Carola will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Carola
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Edythe#10917 · Tessie#10917 · Drusilla#10917 · Eugenie#10917 · Ivah#10917 · Karri#10917 · Claribel#10917 · Myrtle#10917
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Carola? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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