Carolyn Girl
How popular is Carolyn?
#1,222 girl name in 2025
185 baby girls were named Carolyn in the US in 2025, making it the 1222nd most popular girl name.
Carolyn popularity over time
Boys Girls
| Rank in 2025 | #1,222 for girls (▼ 62 from 2024) |
|---|---|
| Babies in 2025 | 185 girls |
| 10-year trend | Falling fast (-51% babies vs 2015) |
| Earlier ranks | #748 in 2015, #947 in 2020 |
| Peak year | 1947 (20,742 girls) |
| Highest rank | #10 in 1942 |
| First recorded | 1880 |
| Boys vs girls (last 10 years) | 0% boys, 100% girls |
| Chance a classmate shares it | 0.1% in a class of 25 kids born in 2025 |
Carolyn counting every spelling
Social Security counts each spelling as its own name. Adding together the spellings that sound alike, the Caroline family of names ranked #107 for girls in 2025 (#102 the year before), with 3,137 babies in all.
| Spelling | Girls in 2025 | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Caroline | 2,646 | 84% |
| Carolyn | 185 | 6% |
| Karoline | 119 | 4% |
| Carolynn | 45 | 1% |
| Caraline | 15 | 0% |
| Karolyn | 18 | 1% |
| Karaline | 14 | 0% |
| Karlyn | 17 | 1% |
| Carlyn | 12 | 0% |
| Carlynn | 5 | 0% |
| Carolyne | 9 | 0% |
| Karalynn | 7 | 0% |
Spellings are grouped by how they sound, using our own rules, so a few groupings may not match how your family says the name.
Where Carolyn is most popular
Babies named Carolyn per 1,000 girls born in each state, 2021 to 2025. Darker means more common.
- Ohio: 0.3 per 1,000 (68 girls)
- South Carolina: 0.3 per 1,000 (25 girls)
- Alabama: 0.3 per 1,000 (26 girls)
- New Hampshire: 0.3 per 1,000 (5 girls)
- Pennsylvania: 0.3 per 1,000 (62 girls)
Carolyn by decade
| Decade | Baby girls | Best rank |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | 856 | #163 |
| 1890s | 1,401 | #211 |
| 1900s | 2,009 | #194 |
| 1910s | 8,940 | #163 |
| 1920s | 22,776 | #77 |
| 1930s | 69,525 | #14 |
| 1940s | 181,858 | #10 |
| 1950s | 124,067 | #20 |
| 1960s | 75,266 | #42 |
| 1970s | 27,046 | #84 |
| 1980s | 18,628 | #144 |
| 1990s | 12,884 | #169 |
| 2000s | 6,737 | #308 |
| 2010s | 3,482 | #736 |
| 2020s | 1,302 | #947 |
Girl names about as popular as Carolyn
Questions
- Is Carolyn a boy or girl name?
- Carolyn is mostly a girl name. Over the last 10 years, 100% of babies named Carolyn were girls.
- How popular is the name Carolyn?
- 185 baby girls were named Carolyn in the US in 2025, making it the 1222nd most popular girl name.
- When was Carolyn most popular?
- Carolyn peaked in 1947, when 20,742 girls were given the name. Its highest rank was #10 in 1942.
- How many people are named Carolyn?
- 558,397 babies have been named Carolyn in the US since 1880. We estimate about 367,907 of them are alive in 2026, with a median age of 72.
- Where is Carolyn most popular?
- From 2021 to 2025, Carolyn was most common in Ohio, at 0.3 of every 1,000 girls born there.
Source: Social Security Administration baby name data, 1880 to 2025 (names given to at least 5 babies of a sex in a year). Living-people and median-age figures are our estimates using US life tables. How we calculate.