Carter
A masculine name, derived from the occupation of transporting goods by cart.
Roughly 204,143 people in the United States go by the first name Carter, which ranks #45 nationally when sorted by estimated living bearers. It is a predominantly male name (95.5% of registrations). The average person named Carter today is around 15 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Carter births was 2015 (11,395 babies). In terms of living bearers, it sits close to Paula (202,061).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Carter. 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 Carter with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Carter is used almost entirely for boys, the SSA data does show 9,357 girls registered with the name since 1880.
- • Carter is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 15 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
204K
~ 1 in 1,679 Americans
Peak year
2015
11,395 babies that year
Average age
15
years old
2024 SSA rank
#45
Tracked since 1881
Census
Carter in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 160,404 people with the first name Carter, which placed it at #349 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
#349
National first-name rank
People counted
160K
160,404 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
53.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
76.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Carter
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Carter is White at 76.0%. The next largest groups are Black (9.8%) and Two or More Races (6.4%). 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 Carter 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 Carter at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White76.0% · 121,960
- Black or African American9.8% · 15,773
- Two or more races6.4% · 10,285
- Hispanic or Latino5.6% · 9,058
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.4% · 2,310
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.6% · 1,018
Gender
Gender distribution for Carter
Carter leans heavily male at 95.5% of total registrations, but 9,357 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Carter as a male name
- Ranked #45 in 2024
- 6,267 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2015 (10,814 births)
Carter as a female name
- Ranked #507 in 2024
- 604 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2016 (702 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Carter leans strongly male. 154,155 people counted with this name were male (96.1%), compared with 6,252 female bearers (3.9%).
Popularity
Carter: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Carter from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 99,657 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Carter remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Carter 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 Carter during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Carters live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. Texas, California, Ohio recorded the most babies named Carter, while Hawaii, Rhode Island, District of Columbia recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 3,990 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Carter
The name Carter has its origins in the English language and can be traced back to the Middle Ages. It is derived from the Old English word "cretere," which means "carter" or someone who drove a cart or wagon for a living. The name was initially an occupational surname, given to those who worked as carters or transporters of goods.
During the medieval period, the name Carter was predominantly found in England, particularly in regions where the transportation of goods and materials was a significant occupation. As towns and cities grew, the need for carters increased, leading to the widespread use of this occupational surname.
While the name Carter does not have any direct references in ancient texts or religious scriptures, it does appear in historical records and documents from the medieval era. One of the earliest recorded instances of the name dates back to the late 13th century, when a man named John le Carter was mentioned in the Assize Rolls of Staffordshire in 1292.
Over the centuries, several notable individuals have borne the name Carter. One of the most famous was Elihu Carter (1762-1835), an American Baptist minister and educator who founded the Baptist Theological Seminary at Charleston, South Carolina, in 1819. Another prominent figure was Howard Carter (1874-1939), the English archaeologist and Egyptologist best known for discovering the tomb of Tutankhamun in 1922.
Other notable individuals with the name Carter include:
1. Jimmy Carter (born 1924), the 39th President of the United States, who served from 1977 to 1981.
2. Ellsworth Carter (1890-1950), an American composer and conductor known for his orchestral works and film scores.
3. Rebecca Carter (1718-1806), an American revolutionary and activist who played a crucial role in the Siege of Boonesborough during the American Revolutionary War.
4. Elliott Carter (1908-2012), an influential American composer known for his innovative techniques and contributions to modern classical music.
5. Anita Carter (1933-1999), an American singer and member of the popular Carter Family folk music group, alongside her mother Maybelle Carter and sisters June and Helen.
While the name Carter has its roots in occupational surnames, it has transcended its original meaning and become a popular given name in its own right, particularly in English-speaking countries.
People
Carter + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Carter 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
Carter: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Carter?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 204,143 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Carter 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 1,679 US residents.
Is Carter a common name?
We classify Carter as "Common". It ranks above 99.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 210,119 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Carter most popular?
The single biggest year for Carter was 2015, when 11,395 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Carter is about 15 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Carter in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 160,404 people with the name Carter, or 53.11 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #349 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 Carter 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 Carter?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Carter leans strongly male. 154,155 people counted with this name were male (96.1%), compared with 6,252 female bearers (3.9%). 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 Carter?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Carter is White at 76.0%. The next largest groups are Black (9.8%) and Two or More Races (6.4%). 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 Carter most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Carter in the 2020 Census, accounting for 76.0% (121,960 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 Carter in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Carter a male name?
Yes, 95.5% of people registered as Carter in the SSA data are male. 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 Carter still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Carter 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 Carter 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 Americans are named Carter?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many people share the name Carter at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.