Carol
Girl nameCarol has been given to 825,584 babies in the U.S. since 1880. It peaked in 1946.
Meaning & origin /ˈkæ.ɹəl/
Shortened from Caroline. Associated by folk etymology with the English noun carol.
Origin: Germanic languages
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Popularity over time births per year, 1880–2025
Total babies
825,584
Peak year
1946 (34,458 babies)
Rank in 2025
Below top 1000
First recorded
1880
10-year trend
▼ -31%
Gender split
99% girls / 1% boys
Famous people named Carol
Annette Bening
American actress (born 1958)
Carol I of Romania
King of Romania from 1881 to 1914
Carole King
American singer-songwriter and musician (born 1942)
Carol Burnett
American actress, comedian and singer (born 1933)
Notability data from Wikidata (CC0).
Names with a similar vibe
Same primary gender, peaked around the same years, and roughly as common as Carol.
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726,130 babies since 1900
715,336 babies since 1880
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