Boys' name · peaked in 2015
Carter name popularity since 1925
215,279 babies born in the US from 1925 to 2025 were named Carter (4.7% girls, 95.3% boys). Half of them were born in 2013 or earlier, so the typical Carter is about 13 years old in 2026. Carter peaked in 2015 as the #24 name for boys, and it ranked #45 in 2025.
Key facts
- US babies since 1925
- 215,279
- Named Carter, 1925–2025
- In 2025
- #45
- for boys in 2025 (6,024 babies)
- Girls / boys
- 95.3% boys
- 10,028 girls · 205,251 boys
- Most popular in
- Utah
- 2.15× its national share
Peak year is the year Carter 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.
Carter births per year, 1925–2025
2015 was the biggest year for Carter both by count and as a share of all babies.
- Steepest fall: Between 1954 and 1959, Carter's share of baby boys fell by 34%, from 1 in 10,700 to 1 in 16,200.
- Fastest rise: Between 1994 and 1999, it became 3.6× more common, from 1 in 3,550 baby boys to 1 in 988.
Shaded on the chart. Both compare Carter's share of all US boys five years apart, counting only years with at least 100 babies named Carter.
Decade by decade
Babies named Carter 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 | 15 | 412 | – |
| 1930s | 13 | 863 | #576 |
| 1940s | 38 | 1,340 | #537 |
| 1950s | 64 | 1,612 | #607 |
| 1960s | 45 | 1,345 | #698 |
| 1970s | 98 | 1,359 | #637 |
| 1980s | 164 | 1,680 | #670 |
| 1990s | 523 | 9,725 | #286 |
| 2000s | 1,020 | 52,320 | #77 |
| 2010s | 4,408 | 95,261 | #24 |
| 2020–25 | 3,640 | 39,334 | #45 |
Ranks count every name given to at least 5 boys that year, so they can go past 1,000.
Generation fingerprint
53.9% of babies named Carter from 1925 to 2025 were born in the Gen Alpha years (2013–2025). The full split by generation:
Where Carter is most popular
The index compares Carter'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 Carter.
| State | Index | Babies |
|---|---|---|
| Utah | 2.15× | 3,887 |
| Idaho | 1.99× | 1,676 |
| South Dakota | 1.77× | 1,198 |
| Nevada | 1.65× | 1,249 |
| Minnesota | 1.62× | 6,263 |
Other spellings
Spellings that sound like Carter 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Carter (this page) | 205,251 | 2015 |
| Karter | 29,465 | 2020 |
| Cartier | 2,478 | 2022 |
Names with a similar story
Of the other 499 names on this site, these six had the share of babies closest in shape to Carter's from 1925 to 2025, however common each one got. Each line is scaled to its own high; the dashed line is Carter.
Names from the same era
Other common names that peaked within two years of Carter (2015).
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