Boys' name · peaked in 1915
Carl name popularity since 1925
400,937 babies born in the US from 1925 to 2025 were named Carl (0.6% girls, 99.4% boys). Half of them were born in 1953 or earlier, so the typical Carl is about 73 years old in 2026. Carl peaked in 1915 as the #22 name for boys, and it was outside the top 1,000 in 2025.
Key facts
- US babies since 1925
- 400,937
- Named Carl, 1925–2025
- Peak year
- 1915
- #22 for boys that year
- In 2025
- Not top 1,000
- #1,134 for boys in 2025
- Girls / boys
- 99.4% boys
- 2,436 girls · 398,501 boys
- Most popular in
- West Virginia
- 2.25× its national share
Peak year is the year Carl made up the largest share of US boys, in records going back to 1880. Typical age is based on births from 1925 on, not on who is living today.
Carl births per year, 1925–2025
The biggest year on this chart was 1956. Measured as a share of all babies, Carl peaked earlier, in 1915.
- Steepest fall: Between 2017 and 2022, Carl's share of baby boys fell by 44%, from 1 in 4,460 to 1 in 7,940.
Shaded on the chart. This compares Carl's share of all US boys five years apart, counting only years with at least 100 babies named Carl.
Decade by decade
Babies named Carl in each decade, and its rank among boys' names in the middle year of the decade (1935, 1945 … 2025).
| Decade | Girls | Boys | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1925–29 | 265 | 35,118 | – |
| 1930s | 411 | 66,759 | #28 |
| 1940s | 316 | 72,739 | #39 |
| 1950s | 312 | 78,752 | #47 |
| 1960s | 399 | 60,787 | #54 |
| 1970s | 387 | 31,370 | #91 |
| 1980s | 309 | 25,472 | #112 |
| 1990s | 37 | 14,693 | #213 |
| 2000s | 0 | 7,198 | #415 |
| 2010s | 0 | 4,225 | #600 |
| 2020–25 | 0 | 1,388 | #1,134 |
Ranks count every name given to at least 5 boys that year, so they can go past 1,000.
Generation fingerprint
36.4% of babies named Carl from 1925 to 2025 were born in the Baby Boom years (1946–1964). The full split by generation:
Where Carl is most popular
The index compares Carl's share of babies in each state with its share nationwide, 1925–2025 (1.50× = 50% more common). States with at least 300 babies named Carl.
| State | Index | Babies |
|---|---|---|
| West Virginia | 2.25× | 7,940 |
| Arkansas | 1.75× | 7,234 |
| Kentucky | 1.64× | 11,024 |
| Oklahoma | 1.55× | 8,127 |
| Missouri | 1.45× | 12,736 |
Other spellings
Spellings that sound like Carl and were given to at least 1,000 boys from 1925 to 2025, with the year each one was most popular.
| Spelling | Boys | Peak year |
|---|---|---|
| Carl (this page) | 398,501 | 1915 |
| Karl | 91,591 | 1963 |
Names with a similar story
Of the other 499 names on this site, these six had the share of babies closest in shape to Carl's from 1925 to 2025, however common each one got. Each line is scaled to its own high; the dashed line is Carl.
Names from the same era
Other common names that peaked within two years of Carl (1915).
Source: U.S. Social Security Administration national and state baby-name data, which covers names given to at least 5 babies of one sex in a year. About the data