Carnie
UnisexBoys' nameGirls' nameMeaning not yet documented
Carnie has been given to 112 babies in the U.S. since 1915. It was used fewer than 5 times in 2025, so it doesn't appear in the latest year's list — today it's a genuinely uncommon pick. Its peak year was 1920, with 12 recorded. It's used for both sexes: 80% boys, 20% girls all-time.
Babies named Carnie, 1939
1 in 441,000
Carnie over time, 1880–2025
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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.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 — Carnie over time
In 1978, Carnie went to 100% girls and 0% boys.
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.
How common is Carnie?
Carnie had fewer than 5 recorded uses in 2025, so these figures use 1939, the last year it was published.
- Among all babies, 1939
- 1 in 441,000
- 5 of 2,203,433 births
- Among boys only
- 1 in 221,000
- <0.01% of boys
- Rank, 1939
- Unranked
- Fewer than 5 uses
- Coin-flip room size
- 305,462 kids
- Even odds of a second one
Where Carnie sits on the popularity scale
Chance at least one other child shares the name
If the other children were drawn at random from the 1939 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.
Put another way: gather 305,462 children born in 1939 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Carnie. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.
When Carnies were born
Half of everyone ever recorded as Carnie was born before 1922 — so the typical Carnie is around 103 today.
- Biggest decade
- 1920s
- 56.7% of all use
- Born in the last 25 years
- 100.0%
- A modern name
- Recorded since 1950
- 0
- People you could plausibly meet
1920s — 56.7% of all recorded uses (51).
Is Carnie 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
- —
- Not ranked then
- Rank vs 5 years ago
- New entry
- Not ranked then
- Rank vs 10 years ago
- —
- Not ranked then
- Births vs 10 years ago
- —
- Not published both years
- Share of its own peak
- 0%
- Peak was 1920 (12)
- Years since peak
- 105
- Years
- Year-to-year steadiness
- Volatile
- 49.8% average annual change
Spellings of Carnie
Carnie is not the most common spelling — Charlie is, with 62.3% against Carnie's 0.03%.
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.
Carnie by the numbers
The raw record for each sex the name is used for.
As a boy's name
Names similar to Carnie
Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.
Sibling names for Carnie
Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.