Karole
Feminine · “Free man”
Karole takes an English name, gives it a French ending and a Continental first letter, and ends up looking like something imported. It is not. Every piece of it was available in American spelling at the time, and the result is a name that says the middle of the twentieth century out loud.
How old is the name Karole?
Karole first appears in US birth records in 1932 — 93 years ago. The typical Karole alive today was born around 1957, making them about 68 years old. About 700 people named Karole are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Karole most popular?
Karole peaked in 1941, reaching #1355 nationally. See the whole 1941 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Karl to Karole
The story of Karole
Carol reached English as the short form of Caroline, itself the feminine of Carolus, and for a long time it was spelled without the e. The e arrived from Hollywood. Carole Lombard, born Jane Alice Peters, was billed with that final letter through her whole screen career, and American parents followed the marquee rather than the dictionary. What the e is doing, historically, is French grammar: in French a silent final e marks a feminine form, which is why Carole is a woman and Carol can be either. English borrowed the letter and left the rule behind, so the e now signals nothing except that somebody chose it. The K at the front does the same job twice over.
Meaning
Free man — the Germanic word that stands behind Charles
The line runs Karl to Carolus to Charles, and the root word meant a man, specifically a free man rather than a noble one. Carol and Carole are the feminine of that, made in French and borrowed into English. The Christmas carol is an unrelated word, from a Greek term for a ring dance, and the two only look alike.
How the name formed
- Karl
- Carolus
- Caroline
- Carole
- Karole
Related forms: Carole · Carola · Karoline · Carolina · Karolina
Pronouncing Karole
KARE-ul
Identical to Carol. Neither the K nor the final e is audible, which is the whole point of both.
Nicknames for Karole
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
- 1932
- Most girls named
- 194535 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1355reached in 1941
- Change vs 1992
- 0.0%5 in 2006, 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.
Karole in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Carole in French — same name
- Carola in Italian — related form
- Karoline in German — related form
- Carolina in Spanish — related form
- Karolina in Polish — related form
Karoles among us
people named Karole 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
Karole 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 is said exactly as Carol, so nobody ever mispronounces it, whatever they do to the spelling.
- The K and the e together make a common name distinctive on paper without making it hard.
- It sits in a family — Caroline, Carolina, Karolina — that is understood almost everywhere in Europe.
- She will spell it out every single time, because the ear gives no clue that either letter is there.
- The two decorations point in different directions, a Germanic K and a French e, which is a sign the name was assembled rather than inherited.
- It is firmly a name of its own moment in American fashion, and it will place her generation for a stranger.
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What they receive
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Karole
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Karoles 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 Karole are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Karole in 2025?
- Karole is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Karole with classmates?
- Karole will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More K names
The most-given names starting with K, all years combined.
Karen#1279 · Kimberly#302 · Kathleen#1150 · Katherine#186 · Kelly#851 · Kathryn#729 · Kayla#364 · Kathy#3249
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Karole? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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