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Carley

#2,725 in 2025Girls' name

Variant of Carly

Carley has been given to 17,328 babies in the U.S. since 1921. In 2025 it ranked #2,725 of 17,293 girls’ names in use. Its peak year was 1998, with 713 recorded.

Babies named Carley, 2025

1 in 52,600

Carley over time, 1880–2025

GirlsBoys
020040060080018801900192019401960198020002020

Based on births in the U.S. Babies given the name each year. Hover the chart — or focus it and use the arrow keys — for any year. Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Carley: meaning, origin, and history

Variant of Carly

Germanic languages

What Carley means

Carley is a variant of Carly.

Meaning behind the documented name family

The name developed through Carley → Carly → Carl → Charles. The family’s meaning is “free man”, recorded in English with the source elements karilaz.

Origin, language, and formation

Carley is used in English. Its origins include Germanic languages.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Carly.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 16,918 girls were recorded with the name Carley between 1921 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 713 in 1998; its best national rank was #376 in 1996.

Over 5 years its rank fell, from #1,822 in 2020 to #2,725 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank fell, from #1,106 in 2015 to #2,725 in 2025.

In the United States, 410 boys were recorded with the name Carley between 1912 and 2004. Its highest annual count was 15 in 1920; its best national rank was #1,830 in 1938.

Sources & methodologyReferences, data & attribution

Meaning, origin, and language notes draw on the references below.

American popularity figures use published Social Security Administration records for this exact spelling. Counts below five for a name, sex, and year are omitted.

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

How common is Carley?

Everything below is computed from the 2025 data — the most recent year available.

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 52,600
63 of 3,315,165 births
Among girls only
1 in 25,500
<0.01% of girls
Rank, 2025
#2,725
of 17,293 girls’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
36,476 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Carley sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Olivia (13,544)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 2025 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.

Class of 20Under 1%
Class of 30Under 1%
Grade of 100Under 1%
School of 500Under 1%

Put another way: gather 36,476 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Carley. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Carleys were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Carley was born before 1999 — so the typical Carley is around 26 today.

Median birth year
1999
About 26 years old
Biggest decade
1990s
34.9% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
45.4%
Spread across generations
Recorded since 1950
16,599
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

1990s — 34.9% of all recorded uses (5,912).

Is Carley rising or falling?

Rank movement and count movement can disagree — the number of distinct names in use keeps growing, so a name holding a steady count still slides down the list. Both are shown.

Rank vs 1 year ago
+332
Places climbed
Rank vs 5 years ago
−903
Places dropped
Rank vs 10 years ago
−1,619
Places dropped
Births vs 10 years ago
0.27×
Fewer babies than then
Share of its own peak
8.8%
Peak was 1998 (713)
Years since peak
27
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Shifting
14.8% average annual change
Best rank ever
#376
1996

Spellings of Carley

Carley is not the most common spelling — Hailey is, with 11.4% against Carley's 1.1%.

Grouped by closeness of spelling (up to two letter changes), same sex, with a floor on all-time use. It catches Sophia/Sofia and Aiden/Ayden, and misses spellings that sound alike but look different, like Sean and Shawn.

Where Carley is used

Across 2016–2025, Carley was most concentrated in Mississippi — about 1 in 5,556 girls, against 1 in 19,335 across all states with data. It was least common in North Carolina (1 in 100,000).

118 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1Mississippi1 in 5,556
  2. 2Alabama1 in 6,667
  3. 3Arkansas1 in 6,667
  4. 4Louisiana1 in 6,667
  5. 5Pennsylvania1 in 9,091
  6. 6Missouri1 in 10,000
  7. 7Kentucky1 in 11,111
  8. 8Nebraska1 in 14,286

Shading is the share of that state's recorded girls given this name, not the raw count — otherwise the map would just show which states are biggest. Unshaded states have no published records for this period. U.S. birth records suppress state-year counts below 5; state counts therefore don't add up to the national total. Every state links to its full rankings.

Carley around the world

Where Carley ranks in official birth records elsewhere in the world. Rankings only — the number of births isn’t comparable between places, so it isn’t shown.

  • England & Wales
    1996–2024
    #5,892
    in 2024
  • Scotland
    1979–2016
    #675
    in 2016
  • Northern Ireland
    2002–2002
    #339
    in 2002
  • Ireland
    1984–2025
    #885
    in 2025
  • Canada
    1991–2024
    #3,027
    in 2024
  • South Australia
    1960–2013
    #818
    in 2013

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, National Records of Scotland, Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency, Central Statistics Office, Statistics Canada and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS, NRS, NISRA data under Open Government Licence v3.0. CSO, CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0. StatCan data under Statistics Canada Open Licence.

Notable people named Carley

People whose public names include Carley, backed by Wikidata given-name records and ordered by linked Wikimedia pages. The name may be a middle name.

People data from Wikidata (CC0). Fame is measured, not judged — the order reflects how widely each person is documented, not the U.S. birth records popularity this page is otherwise about.

Carley in other languages

Cross-language forms and variants of Carley. Linked forms have their own page here.

Karley

Variant forms from Wikidata (CC0). Most are used mainly outside the United States; U.S. birth records statistics cover US usage only.

Carley by the numbers

The raw record for each sex the name is used for.

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
#2,725
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Down 903
Best rank ever
#376
1996
Peak year
1998
713 that year
First recorded
1921
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
16,918
Count in 2025
63

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
—
Best rank ever
#1,830
1938
Peak year
1920
15 that year
First recorded
1912
Last recorded
2004
All-time count
410
Count in 2025
Under 5

Names similar to Carley

Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.

CarinaCarlieCarleeCarterCarsonCarmelCarleneCarmelaCarissaCarsynOakleyCarlynCarliKinleyFinleyAnsleyCarmellaKaileyCariHarleyCaroleMarleyKayleyLesley

Names with a curve like Carley

Not spelling — timing. These names rose, peaked and faded in the same years as Carley, so they read as being from the same moment even when they look nothing alike.

TiannaKaleighKierstenKarliKaylynTessKailaKaitlynnKierraCaylaMarielaDestinee

Sibling names for Carley

Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.

Explore around Carley

Top names of 1998, Carley's peak yearThe 1990s in fullOther names that peaked in 1996Girls' names starting with C