Carley
A feminine name meaning "free man" or "small meadow".
Name Census estimates that about 16,300 living Americans carry the first name Carley. It is a predominantly female name (97.6% of registrations). The average person named Carley today is around 27 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Carley births was 1998 (718 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Carley. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Carley with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Carley is used almost entirely for girls, the SSA data does show 410 boys registered with the name since 1880.
People living today
16K
~ 1 in 21,028 Americans
Peak year
1998
718 babies that year
Average age
27
years old
2004 SSA rank
#3,048
Tracked since 1912
Census
Carley in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 15,394 people with the first name Carley, which placed it at #1,867 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#1,867
National first-name rank
People counted
15K
15,394 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
5.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
87.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Carley
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Carley is White at 87.1%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (4.8%) and Two or More Races (3.5%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Carley described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Carley at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White87.1% · 13,407
- Hispanic or Latino4.8% · 745
- Two or more races3.5% · 542
- Black or African American3.1% · 479
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.8% · 116
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.7% · 105
Gender
Gender distribution for Carley
Carley leans heavily female at 97.6% of total registrations, but 410 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Carley as a male name
- Ranked #8,254 in 2004
- 8 male births in 2004
- Peak: 1920 (15 births)
Carley as a female name
- Ranked #3,048 in 2024
- 53 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1998 (713 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Carley leans strongly female. 15,154 people counted with this name were female (98.5%), compared with 238 male bearers (1.5%).
Popularity
Carley: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Carley from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 5,934 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1990s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Carley by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Carley during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Carleys live
The SSA's state-level files cover 43 states and territories. Texas, California, Pennsylvania recorded the most babies named Carley, while South Dakota, New Hampshire, Hawaii recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 327 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Carley
The name Carley is an English given name of uncertain origin, with various theories about its etymology. One theory suggests that it derives from the Old English word "cærlic," meaning "free man" or "husbandman." Another theory proposes that it is a variant of the name Charles, which itself comes from the Germanic name Karl, meaning "man" or "warrior."
In the Middle Ages, the name Carley was occasionally recorded as a surname, though its use as a given name did not become prevalent until the 19th century. One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Carley as a first name dates back to the late 1700s in England.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Carley. One of the earliest was Carley Groves (1840-1912), an English singer and actress known for her performances in Victorian music halls. Another notable figure was Carley Denny (1870-1936), an American politician who served as a member of the United States House of Representatives from Missouri.
In the 20th century, Carley Siemens (1910-1988) was a Canadian businessman and philanthropist who founded the Siemens Group, one of Canada's largest private corporations. Carley Naishi (1932-2018) was a Japanese-American artist and sculptor known for her abstract works and contributions to the California art scene.
More recently, Carley Stenson (born 1982) is a British actress and singer who rose to fame for her role in the long-running soap opera Hollyoaks. She has also pursued a successful career in musical theater, appearing in productions such as Les Misérables and Legally Blonde.
While the name Carley has been more commonly used in English-speaking countries, its origins and meanings remain diverse, reflecting the rich tapestry of cultural influences that have shaped the English language over time.
People
Carley + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Carley as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with C
Other first names starting with C with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Carley: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Carley?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 16,300 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Carley going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 21,028 US residents.
Is Carley a common name?
We classify Carley as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 17,269 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Carley most popular?
The single biggest year for Carley was 1998, when 718 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Carley is about 27 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Carley in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 15,394 people with the name Carley, or 5.10 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,867 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Carley in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Carley?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Carley leans strongly female. 15,154 people counted with this name were female (98.5%), compared with 238 male bearers (1.5%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Carley?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Carley is White at 87.1%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (4.8%) and Two or More Races (3.5%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Carley most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Carley in the 2020 Census, accounting for 87.1% (13,407 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Carley in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Carley a female name?
Yes, 97.6% of people registered as Carley in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Carley still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Carley in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Carley can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people are called Carley?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.