Carol Shea
There are approximately 50 people named Carol Shea living in the United States today. That makes this name combination very rare, occurring at a rate of about 1 in 6,855,087 Americans.
This estimate combines SSA birth records for the first name Carol with Census Bureau frequency data for the surname Shea. Below you will find a breakdown of both names, including popularity trends, gender data, and ancestry information.
Expected bearers
50
1 in 6,855,087
Named Carol
446K
Alive today
Named Shea
39K
Alive today
US population
343M
Denominator
Estimated living: 446K
Rarity: Common
Gender: Female
Peak year: 1946
Average age: 71
Estimated bearers: 39K
Rarity: Uncommon
Census rank: #1,048
Per 100K: 11.30
Top ancestry: White (93.8%)
First name trend
Carol: popularity over time
Year-by-year SSA birth registrations for the first name Carol. The peak year was 1946 with 34,457 births. The average person named Carol today is 71 years old.
Babies born per year
Ethnicity
Ancestry of the Shea surname
Self-reported race and ethnicity breakdown for people with the surname Shea, from the 2010 US Census Bureau. The largest group is White at 93.8%.
- White93.8%
- Hispanic or Latino2.3%
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.9%
- Two or more races1.2%
- Black or African American0.5%
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.3%
Methodology
How we calculated this
The first name Carol has a living-bearer frequency of 0.1300% of the US population, based on 445,676 estimated living Americans carrying this first name (from SSA birth records going back to 1880, adjusted for mortality using CDC life tables).
The surname Shea appears at a rate of 11.30 per 100,000 residents in the 2010 Census Bureau surname file, which translates to a frequency of 0.0113%.
Multiplying these two independent frequencies against the current US population of 342,754,338 gives an expected count of approximately 50 people with the full name Carol Shea. This assumes statistical independence between first and last names, which is a simplification but produces reasonable estimates for most combinations.
Related
Other people named Carol
FAQ
Carol Shea: questions and answers
How many people are named Carol Shea?
We estimate approximately 50 people in the United States share the full name Carol Shea. That works out to about 1 in 6,855,087 Americans. This is calculated by combining the first-name frequency (0.1300%) with the surname frequency (11.30 per 100K) against the current US population.
How rare is the name Carol Shea?
We classify Carol Shea as "Very Rare". About 1 in 6,855,087 Americans share this exact first and last name combination.
Is Carol a male or female name?
Carol is predominantly female. Out of 825,494 total SSA registrations, 1.0% were male and 99.0% were female. See the full Carol 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.