NameYear

Boys' name · peaked in 2001

Carlos name popularity since 1925

303,848 babies born in the US from 1925 to 2025 were named Carlos (0.7% girls, 99.3% boys). Half of them were born in 1993 or earlier, so the typical Carlos is about 33 years old in 2026. Carlos peaked in 2001 as the #59 name for boys, and it ranked #150 in 2025.

US babies since 1925
303,848
Named Carlos, 1925–2025
Peak year
2001
#59 for boys that year
Typical age
About 33
Median birth year 1993
In 2025
#150
for boys in 2025 (2,418 babies)
Girls / boys
99.3% boys
2,006 girls · 301,842 boys
Most popular in
New Mexico
2.96× its national share

Peak year is the year Carlos 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.

Carlos births per year, 1925–2025

Babies named Carlos per year, 1925–2025

2001 was the biggest year for Carlos both by count and as a share of all babies.

  • Fastest rise: Between 1967 and 1972, Carlos became 1.6× more common, from 1 in 759 baby boys to 1 in 472.
  • Steepest fall: Between 2008 and 2013, its share of baby boys fell by 34%, from 1 in 337 to 1 in 513.

Shaded on the chart. Both compare Carlos's share of all US boys five years apart, counting only years with at least 100 babies named Carlos.

Decade by decade

Babies named Carlos in each decade, and its rank among boys' names in the middle year of the decade (1935, 1945 … 2025).

Decade GirlsBoys Rank
1925–29 362,651 –
1930s 1015,553 #214
1940s 988,100 #200
1950s 17515,821 #166
1960s 26822,396 #144
1970s 43436,949 #73
1980s 44741,506 #74
1990s 27655,185 #68
2000s 13063,199 #70
2010s 3135,301 #118
2020–25 1015,181 #150

Ranks count every name given to at least 5 boys that year, so they can go past 1,000.

Generation fingerprint

30.9% of babies named Carlos from 1925 to 2025 were born in the Gen Z years (1997–2012). The full split by generation:

Carlos by generation Greatest Generation born 1925–27 0.5% Silent Generation born 1928–45 3.6% Baby Boomers born 1946–64 10.1% Gen X born 1965–80 17.7% Millennials born 1981–96 24.9% Gen Z born 1997–2012 30.9% Gen Alpha born 2013–25 12.4%

Where Carlos is most popular

The index compares Carlos'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 Carlos.

StateIndexBabies
New Mexico2.96×4,971
Arizona2.91×11,454
Texas2.51×59,715
California2.42×77,699
Nevada1.96×2,119

Other spellings

Spellings that sound like Carlos and were given to at least 1,000 boys from 1925 to 2025, with the year each one was most popular.

SpellingBoysPeak year
Carlos (this page) 301,842 2001
Karlos 2,018 1974
Carlis 1,043 1935

Names with a similar story

Of the other 499 names on this site, these six had the share of babies closest in shape to Carlos's from 1925 to 2025, however common each one got. Each line is scaled to its own high; the dashed line is Carlos.

Names from the same era

Other common names that peaked within two years of Carlos (2001).

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