Caron
Masculine · “loving”
Caron is given to both — 1,033 boys and 3,179 girls since 1880. See Caron as a girl nameSee other names given to both
Caru is the Welsh verb to love, and caron is built on it. There is a village called Tregaron in Ceredigion and a saint behind the name, and the word is still ordinary Welsh — cariad, darling, comes from the same root and is what Welsh speakers actually call each other.
How old is the name Caron?
Caron first appears in US birth records in 1935 — 90 years ago. The typical Caron alive today was born around 2006, making them about 19 years old. About 1,000 people named Caron are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Caron most popular?
Caron peaked in 2005, reaching #1922 nationally. Today it ranks #12008, 10,086 places below that high. See the whole 2005 chart.
Where it comes from
From caru to Caron
The story of Caron
Welsh built a small stock of names on ordinary affectionate words and kept using them: caru gives Caron and Carys, and cariad is the everyday word for love and for a loved person, said in shops and on doorsteps. There is a homophone worth mentioning and dismissing. Charon was the ferryman of the Greek underworld, and the coin placed in a dead person's mouth to pay him is not only a literary detail: archaeologists find coins in the mouths of Greek and Roman burials regularly enough that the practice is clearly real. The two names are unconnected, one Welsh and one Greek, and only English spelling brings them close.
Meaningscholars disagree
loving
Welsh caron is connected with caru, to love, and with the saint's name behind Tregaron. A French surname Caron, from a word for a cart, is a separate source for some bearers. Neither has been demonstrated for the American given name.
How the name formed
- caru
- Caron
Related forms: Caron · Caron
Pronouncing Caron
KAR-un
Two syllables, stress on the first, in Welsh and in American use. kuh-RON, with the weight at the end, is also used and follows the French pattern.
Nicknames for Caron
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
- 1935
- Most boys named
- 200871 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1922reached in 2005
- Change vs 2024
- −50.0%5 in 2025, from 10
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.
Caron in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Caron in Welsh — same name
- Caron in French — related form
Carons among us
people named Caron are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 341,615 born in 2025 was named Caron
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Caron
- #12008
- Caron on the 2025 chart
- #902
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Caron went to 5 boys in 2025, but Karon is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 26, which makes it the 902nd most-given boys’ name of the year — 11,106 places above the chart.
- Karon21
- Caron5
About 1 boy in 65,695 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 341,615 for Caron 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 Georgio test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Caron's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Georgio climbed just as high around 1989, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Georgio's path sketches the road Caron is walking now.
Caron 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
Caron beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Caron in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- A settled Welsh root that is still an everyday word in the language.
- It serves either child, and the records show both.
- Two syllables with nothing hard to say.
- Karen, Caron and Carron are all in use and close enough to be confused.
- The stress is genuinely unsettled between the two syllables.
- The very few girls given this spelling will be read as boys on every form.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Caron to the vote.
Add it to a family vote or a couple’s swipe deck — the other person gets one card, a simple answer and room to say why. No app, no account for them.
Only the people you invite can see your list.
Already decided on Caron? Hide it among decoys and let them guess.
What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Caron
Masculine · #12008 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Carons are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,000 people named Caron are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Caron?
- Caron is one of 2 recorded spellings. Karon is the more common one — 21 births in 2025 against 5 for Caron.
- How popular is the name Caron in 2025?
- Caron ranks #12008 among US boy names in 2025, with 5 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Caron?
- About 1 in every 341,615 US boys born in 2025 was named Caron — 5 in all.
- Will my child share the name Caron with classmates?
- Caron will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Caron
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Garfield#12008 · Chas#12008 · Lew#12008 · Barney#12008 · Dewitt#12008 · Granville#12008 · Cicero#12008 · Willam#12008
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Caron? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Caron and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
Compare side by sideIn a hurry? Just pick a winner — one tap, no sign-up, and you see how everyone else voted.
Weighing a whole shortlist? Add the rest in the builder, or settle it with a bracket.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
No advertising trackers and no data sellinghow we handle your dataindependent and founder-run, about Name Battle