How Many People Are Named Carl?
people named Carl are alive in the United States today (estimate)
About 1 in 1,510 people in the US has this name
Based on 508,017 babies named Carl in Social Security records from 1880 to 2025, and the share of each birth year still alive in 2025.
Popularity Rank
⭐ Uncommon
Peak Year
8,345 births
Trend
Stable (last 10 years)
📖 Name Origin & Meaning
Meaning:
German form of CHARLES. Two noteworthy bearers of the name were the German mathematician Carl Gauss (1777-1855), who made contributions to number theory and algebra as well as physics and astronomy, and the Swiss psychologist Carl Jung (1875-1961), who founded analytical psychology. It was imported to America in the 19th century by German immigrants.
Source of the meaning, origin, pronunciation and related names: Behind the Name.
Same Sound, Other Spellings
These names are pronounced like Carl in English. Counting Carl and these spellings together, about 291,986 people alive in the US have the name.
⚧ Gender Distribution
Of the babies given the name Carl, 0.7% were girls and 99.3% were boys.
👥 Age Distribution
The average person named Carl alive today is about 59 years old, and 57% are 60 or older. Half of them were between 48 and 73 in 2025.
📈 Popularity Over Time
Carl first appears in the records in 1880 and was given most often in 1956, to 8,345 babies. In 2025, 187 babies got the name.
Babies given the name each year, 1880 to 2025
🏆 Rank History
Carl never made the top 10 boys' names. Its best rank was #22, in 1894 to 1895 and 1915, and it was in the top 100 for 100 years, 1880 to 1979. In 2025 it ranked #1,134.
| Boys | |
|---|---|
| Rank in 2025 | #1,134 |
| Best rank | #22 (1894 to 1895 and 1915) |
| Years in the top 100 | 100 (1880 to 1979) |
| Rank in its biggest decade | #48 in the 1950s |
📍 State-Wise Distribution
People named Carl alive today, by the state where they were born (estimate; state records start in 1910).
More people named Carl were born in New York than in any other state: about 16,507 of those alive today. Compared with the national rate in the same years, Carl was given 1.8 times as often in Alaska, 1.6 times in West Virginia and 1.4 times in Arkansas.
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