The story in the numbers

556,593 girls have been named Carolyn in the United States since 1880, according to Social Security records. The busiest single year was 1947, with 20,741 births — 1.2% of all girls recorded that year.

The name has all but left use: 206 births in 2024, against 20,741 at the peak.

Half of everyone given the name was born by 1949, and the 1940s alone account for 33%. It has spent 141 of 145 years in the top 1,000, 44 of them in the top 100 and 1 in the top 10.

It is overwhelmingly a girl’s name: 1,620 boys have also been given it, 0.29% of the total.

Rank among girls, year by year

By decade

Decade

girls named Carolyn

856

1,401

2,009

8,940

22,776

69,525

181,855

124,067

75,267

27,048

18,630

12,885

6,737

3,481

1,116

In 1947, its biggest year

Carolyn was the 15th most given girl’s name that year. The top five girls’ names of 1947 were Linda, Mary, Patricia, Barbara and Sandra. See all of 1947.

Names that rose and fell with Carolyn

Same sex, most similar popularity curve over 145 years, in five-year steps — the shape of the line, not the size.

Other spellings in the data

What this page does not tell you. The Social Security data records how many babies were given a name, not what the name means or where it comes from — so neither do we. Counts cover people with a Social Security number; names given to fewer than five babies in a year are withheld. More on the data.