Carl Sagan
There are approximately 1 people named Carl Sagan living in the United States today. That makes this name combination very rare, occurring at a rate of about 1 in 342,754,338 Americans.
This estimate combines SSA birth records for the first name Carl with Census Bureau frequency data for the surname Sagan. Below you will find a breakdown of both names, including popularity trends, gender data, and ancestry information.
Expected bearers
1
1 in 342,754,338
Named Carl
248K
Alive today
Named Sagan
1.4K
Alive today
US population
343M
Denominator
Estimated living: 248K
Rarity: Common
Gender: Male
Peak year: 1956
Average age: 62
Estimated bearers: 1.4K
Rarity: Rare
Census rank: #21,790
Per 100K: 0.40
Top ancestry: White (95.2%)
First name trend
Carl: popularity over time
Year-by-year SSA birth registrations for the first name Carl. The peak year was 1956 with 8,346 births. The average person named Carl today is 62 years old.
Babies born per year
Ethnicity
Ancestry of the Sagan surname
Self-reported race and ethnicity breakdown for people with the surname Sagan, from the 2010 US Census Bureau. The largest group is White at 95.2%.
- White95.2%
- Hispanic or Latino2.0%
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.3%
- Unknown or suppressed0.8%
- Two or more races0.8%
Methodology
How we calculated this
The first name Carl has a living-bearer frequency of 0.0724% of the US population, based on 248,051 estimated living Americans carrying this first name (from SSA birth records going back to 1880, adjusted for mortality using CDC life tables).
The surname Sagan appears at a rate of 0.40 per 100,000 residents in the 2010 Census Bureau surname file, which translates to a frequency of 0.0004%.
Multiplying these two independent frequencies against the current US population of 342,754,338 gives an expected count of approximately 1 people with the full name Carl Sagan. This assumes statistical independence between first and last names, which is a simplification but produces reasonable estimates for most combinations.
Related
Other people named Carl
FAQ
Carl Sagan: questions and answers
How many people are named Carl Sagan?
We estimate approximately 1 people in the United States share the full name Carl Sagan. That works out to about 1 in 342,754,338 Americans. This is calculated by combining the first-name frequency (0.0724%) with the surname frequency (0.40 per 100K) against the current US population.
How rare is the name Carl Sagan?
We classify Carl Sagan as "Very Rare". About 1 in 342,754,338 Americans share this exact first and last name combination.
Is Carl a male or female name?
Carl is predominantly male. Out of 507,825 total SSA registrations, 99.4% were male and 0.6% were female. See the full Carl profile for detailed gender data.
Where does this data come from?
First-name data comes from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files (1880 to 2024). Surname data comes from the 2010 US Census Bureau decennial surname tables. Living-bearer estimates use CDC actuarial life tables to adjust for mortality. Read the full methodology.