Girls' name · peaked in 1998
Carley name popularity since 1925
17,174 babies born in the US from 1925 to 2025 were named Carley (98.2% girls, 1.8% boys). Half of them were born in 1999 or earlier, so the typical Carley is about 27 years old in 2026. Carley peaked in 1998 as the #389 name for girls, and it was outside the top 1,000 in 2025.
Key facts
- US babies since 1925
- 17,174
- Named Carley, 1925–2025
- In 2025
- Not top 1,000
- #2,725 for girls in 2025
- Girls / boys
- 98.2% girls
- 16,861 girls · 313 boys
- Most popular in
- Mississippi
- 2.16× its national share
Peak year is the year Carley made up the largest share of US girls, in records going back to 1880. Typical age is based on births from 1925 on, not on who is living today.
Carley births per year, 1925–2025
1998 was the biggest year for Carley both by count and as a share of all babies.
- Fastest rise: Between 1989 and 1994, Carley became 2.7× more common, from 1 in 8,050 baby girls to 1 in 2,930.
- Steepest fall: Between 2015 and 2020, its share of baby girls fell by 49%, from 1 in 7,630 to 1 in 15,000.
Shaded on the chart. Both compare Carley's share of all US girls five years apart, counting only years with at least 100 babies named Carley.
Decade by decade
Babies named Carley in each decade, and its rank among girls' names in the middle year of the decade (1935, 1945 … 2025).
| Decade | Girls | Boys | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1925–29 | 72 | 36 | – |
| 1930s | 112 | 73 | #3,811 |
| 1940s | 78 | 78 | #4,636 |
| 1950s | 60 | 66 | #5,295 |
| 1960s | 38 | 0 | #6,639 |
| 1970s | 443 | 11 | #2,100 |
| 1980s | 1,776 | 19 | #901 |
| 1990s | 5,912 | 22 | #418 |
| 2000s | 5,585 | 8 | #486 |
| 2010s | 2,290 | 0 | #1,106 |
| 2020–25 | 495 | 0 | #2,725 |
Ranks count every name given to at least 5 girls that year, so they can go past 1,000.
Generation fingerprint
49.7% of babies named Carley from 1925 to 2025 were born in the Gen Z years (1997–2012). The full split by generation:
Where Carley is most popular
The index compares Carley'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 Carley.
| State | Index | Babies |
|---|---|---|
| Mississippi | 2.16× | 373 |
| Alabama | 1.73× | 437 |
| Louisiana | 1.61× | 413 |
| Wisconsin | 1.57× | 442 |
| Tennessee | 1.55× | 465 |
Other spellings
Spellings that sound like Carley and were given to at least 1,000 girls from 1925 to 2025, with the year each one was most popular.
| Spelling | Girls | Peak year |
|---|---|---|
| Carley (this page) | 16,861 | 1998 |
| Carly | 66,466 | 1995 |
| Carlie | 14,689 | 2004 |
| Carlee | 12,829 | 2009 |
| Carli | 8,967 | 1996 |
| Karley | 7,955 | 1998 |
Names with a similar story
Of the other 1999 names on this site, these six had the share of babies closest in shape to Carley's from 1925 to 2025, however common each one got. Each line is scaled to its own high; the dashed line is Carley.
Names from the same era
Other common names that peaked within two years of Carley (1998).
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