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Carlyle

#4,887 in 2025UnisexBoys' nameGirls' name

Variant of Carlisle

Carlyle has been given to 4,071 babies in the U.S. since 1892. In 2025 it ranked #4,887 of 13,926 boys’ names in use. Its peak year was 1918, with 115 recorded. It's used for both sexes: 95% boys, 5% girls all-time.

Babies named Carlyle, 2025

1 in 166,000

Carlyle over time, 1880–2025

BoysGirls
05010015018801900192019401960198020002020

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Girls or boys — Carlyle over time

In 2025, Carlyle went to 0% girls and 100% boys.

18922025

A sex is only published in years it reached five applications, so a stretch at 0% or 100% means the other side stayed under that floor — not that it was never used.

Carlyle: meaning, origin, and history

Variant of Carlisle

surname transfer

What Carlyle means

Carlyle is a variant of Carlisle.

Meaning behind the documented name family

The name developed through Carlyle → Carlisle. The family’s meaning is “fort”, recorded in English with the source elements kaɨr.

Origin, language, and formation

Carlyle is used in English. Its origins include surname transfer.

Carlyle is recorded as a surname transferred into given-name use.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Carlisle.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 3,856 boys were recorded with the name Carlyle between 1892 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 115 in 1918; its best national rank was #564 in 1918.

Over 5 years its rank fell, from #4,294 in 2020 to #4,887 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank rose, from #5,087 in 2015 to #4,887 in 2025.

In the United States, 215 girls were recorded with the name Carlyle between 1914 and 2023. Its highest annual count was 10 in 1997; its best national rank was #3,698 in 1914.

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 Carlyle?

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

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 166,000
20 of 3,315,165 births
Among boys only
1 in 85,400
<0.01% of boys
Rank, 2025
#4,887
of 13,926 boys’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
114,896 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Carlyle sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Liam (20,818)

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 114,896 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Carlyle. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Carlyles were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Carlyle was born before 1937 — so the typical Carlyle is around 88 today.

Median birth year
1937
About 88 years old
Biggest decade
1920s
20.5% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
10.2%
Spread across generations
Recorded since 1950
1,398
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

1920s — 20.5% of all recorded uses (791).

Is Carlyle 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
+811
Places climbed
Rank vs 5 years ago
−593
Places dropped
Rank vs 10 years ago
+200
Places climbed
Births vs 10 years ago
1.11×
More babies than then
Share of its own peak
17.4%
Peak was 1918 (115)
Years since peak
107
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Shifting
17.7% average annual change
Best rank ever
#564
1918

Spellings of Carlyle

Carlyle is the most-used spelling, taking 34.8% of the 11,074 babies given a near-identical spelling.

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 Carlyle is used

Across 1910–2025, Carlyle was most concentrated in Iowa — about 1 in 50,000 boys, against 1 in 116,824 across all states with data. It was least common in West Virginia (1 in —).

02 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1Iowa1 in 50,000
  2. 2Minnesota1 in 50,000
  3. 3North Carolina1 in 50,000
  4. 4Virginia1 in 50,000
  5. 5Illinois1 in 100,000
  6. 6Indiana1 in 100,000
  7. 7Michigan1 in 100,000
  8. 8North Dakota1 in 100,000

Shading is the share of that state's recorded boys 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. Carlyle has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Carlyle around the world

Where Carlyle 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
    2007–2010
    #4,678
    in 2010
  • Canada
    2010–2017
    #2,944
    in 2017
  • South Australia
    1952–2012
    #771
    in 2012

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, Statistics Canada and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS data under Open Government Licence v3.0. StatCan data under Statistics Canada Open Licence. CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0.

Notable people named Carlyle

People whose public names include Carlyle, 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.

Carlyle in other languages

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

Carlile

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

Carlyle by the numbers

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

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
#4,887
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Down 593
Best rank ever
#564
1918
Peak year
1918
115 that year
First recorded
1892
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
3,856
Count in 2025
20

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
—
Best rank ever
#3,698
1914
Peak year
1997
10 that year
First recorded
1914
Last recorded
2023
All-time count
215
Count in 2025
Under 5

Names similar to Carlyle

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

CarnellCartierCardellCarstenCarsenCarverCarlitoCarlinCarmeloCarmineCarmelloCarsynCarlisleCarlsonCarmelCarrickCarolynCarletonCarmenCarrolCarltonCarlitosCaronCarlo

Names with a curve like Carlyle

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

ClovisOranHaskellLambertOttisJewellGarnettEldredAudreyElwinRupertOlan

Sibling names for Carlyle

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 Carlyle

Top names of 1918, Carlyle's peak yearThe 1910s in fullOther names that peaked in 1918Boys' names starting with C