Skip to content
NameBattle
My names

Karlee

Feminine · “free man”

1956high 2008
#1896 in the U.S.stepping back from its peak
falling103 girls in 2025

Karlee is Carly with a K, and behind the whole family is karl — a free man, the Germanic word for one who was neither noble nor enslaved.

How old is the name Karlee?

Karlee first appears in US birth records in 1956 — 69 years ago. The typical Karlee alive today was born around 2005, making them about 20 years old. About 13,500 people named Karlee are estimated to be alive in the US today.

When was the name Karlee most popular?

Karlee peaked in 2004, reaching #583 nationally. Today it ranks #1896, 1,313 places below that high. See the whole 2004 chart.

Compare this nameMore “K” names

Lists built from the same records:

I

Where it comes from

The story of Karlee

Charlemagne's name is Carolus Magnus, Charles the Great, and the karl element spread across Europe with him. English made Carly, Carla and Carlie as feminines of Charles. The K respellings followed the fashion of the 1980s, and Karlee appears in the American registers from that decade in current use.

Meaning

free man

Through Carly and Charles, from the Germanic karl, 'free man' — a real medieval social category between the nobility and the unfree. The English 'churl' is the same word with a different history. The element is ordinary and the meaning undisputed.

How the name formed

  1. karl
  2. Charles
  3. Carly
  4. Karlee

Related forms: Carly · Karly · Carlee

Pronouncing Karlee

KAR-lee

Two syllables, stress on the first. All the spellings of the sound are said identically.

Nicknames for Karlee

Moderate

KarThe front clipping, used inside families rather than generally
LeeThe back of the name, and a name in its own right for both sexes
II

What the data says

The long climb, and where it stands now

GIRLS NAMED · 1956–2025511256051110319562025

US babies named Karlee per year from 1956 to 2025
AVERAGE RANK BY DECADE#1#10#100#1000#5831950s2020s

The same years in position rather than babies

First recorded
1956
Most girls named
2008511 — the highest on record
Peak rank
#583reached in 2004
Change vs 2024
−14.2%103 in 2025, from 120
Karlee is past its biggest year. The count topped out at 511 girls in 2008 and has eased 80% since — the slow half of a naming cycle, where a name stays familiar while getting steadily less common. The move since 2024: down 14.2%.

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.

Karlee in other languages

The same name elsewhere

  • Carly in English — spelling variant
  • Karly in English — spelling variant
  • Carlee in English — spelling variant

Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, Ohio, Florida.

Karlees among us

13,500

people named Karlee are estimated to be alive in the US today

About 1 girl in 15,605 born in 2025 was named Karlee

Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method

Spellings of Karlee

#1896
Karlee on the 2025 chart
#756
counting every spelling

The SSA counts spellings, not names. Karlee went to 103 girls in 2025, but Carlee is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 204, which makes it the 756th most-given girls’ name of the year — 1,140 places above the chart.

About 1 girl in 7,879 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 15,605 for Karlee 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

III

Is it right for you

The Violette test

Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Karlee's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Violette climbed just as high around 1908, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Violette's path sketches the road Karlee is walking now.

40%chance Karlee will feel dated by 2040
Karlee, aligned on its peakViolette· peak 1908not yet written
#1#10#100#1000peak-40 yrs+70 yrsViolette · #8272Karlee today
Karlee today is about where Violette stood in 1929 — 21 years past a #583-sized peak. By 1944, Violette had settled around #3084.
Ages quietlysteadyDates fast

Karlee 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

Where Karlee is headed

19562030

US babies named Karlee per year, 1956 to 2025, with a projection to 2030

Karlee is easing off slowly — about 28% fewer babies a year by 2030 if the trend continues.

Cooling-28% by 2030projected around #2,520 in 2030

Medium confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.

A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.

Karlee beside its neighbors

The names ranked closest to Karlee in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.

Karleethis name103#1896Maizy103#1896Yesenia103#1896Bryleigh103#1896Millicent103#1896

US girls given each name in 2025.

The trade-off

Practical strengths
  • The free-man meaning is concrete and records a real medieval social category.
  • Lee is available as a short form with an enormous record.
  • Two clean syllables with no pronunciation risk.
What to consider
  • At least four spellings of the sound are in common use.
  • Carly is the standard spelling and will be assumed.
  • It is closely dated to the 1980s and 1990s.

Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Karlee 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.

Start a family voteSwipe together

Only the people you invite can see your list.

Already decided on Karlee? Hide it among decoys and let them guess.

Or just send this page to someone:

WhatsAppPinterestFacebook

What they receive

Someone added a name to your list

Karlee

Feminine · #1896 in the U.S.

♥ Love itNot for meLet’s talk about it
Add a note — what do you like about it?
Your shared list is empty. Karlee would be the first name on it.

Frequently asked

How many Karlees are there in the world?
No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 13,500 people named Karlee are estimated to be alive in the US today.
How do you spell Karlee?
Karlee is the most-used spelling in US records — 103 of the 204 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Carlee.
How popular is the name Karlee in 2025?
Karlee ranks #1896 among US girl names in 2025, with 103 babies given the name.
How rare is the name Karlee?
About 1 in every 15,605 US girls born in 2025 was named Karlee — 103 in all.
Will my child share the name Karlee with classmates?
Karlee will almost certainly be the only one in school.

Ranked beside Karlee

Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.

Maizy#1896 · Yesenia#1896 · Bryleigh#1896 · Millicent#1896 · Catarina#1896 · Meghan#1902 · Halima#1902 · Pepper#1902

Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Karlee? See the current top 100.

Choosing between Karlee and another name?

See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.

Compare side by side

In 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