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Carry

UnisexGirls' nameBoys' name

Diminutive of Caroline

Carry has been given to 1,659 babies in the U.S. since 1881. 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 1975, with 37 recorded. It's used for both sexes: 82% girls, 18% boys all-time.

Babies named Carry, 2001

1 in 468,000

Carry over time, 1880–2025

GirlsBoys
01020304018801900192019401960198020002020

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.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

In 2001, Carry went to 100% girls and 0% boys.

18812001

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.

Carry: meaning, origin, and history

Diminutive of Caroline

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Carry means

Carry is a diminutive of Caroline.

Documented naming usage and pronunciation

Carry is used in English.

Another recorded pronunciation is /ˈkæɹ.i/ and /ˈkɛɹ.i/ for Carry.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Caroline.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 1,359 girls were recorded with the name Carry between 1881 and 2001. Its highest annual count was 37 in 1975; its best national rank was #740 in 1884.

In the United States, 300 boys were recorded with the name Carry between 1894 and 1990. Its highest annual count was 14 in 1964; its best national rank was #1,106 in 1894.

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.

How common is Carry?

Carry had fewer than 5 recorded uses in 2025, so these figures use 2001, the last year it was published.

Among all babies, 2001
1 in 468,000
8 of 3,742,181 births
Among girls only
1 in 225,000
<0.01% of girls
Rank, 2001
Unranked
Fewer than 5 uses
Coin-flip room size
324,236 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Carry 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 2001 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 324,236 children born in 2001 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Carry. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Carrys were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Carry was born before 1940 — so the typical Carry is around 85 today.

Median birth year
1940
About 85 years old
Biggest decade
1970s
17.1% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
20.4%
Spread across generations
Recorded since 1950
631
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

1970s — 17.1% of all recorded uses (232).

Is Carry 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 1975 (37)
Years since peak
50
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Shifting
22.4% average annual change
Best rank ever
#740
1884

Spellings of Carry

Carry is not the most common spelling — Mary is, with 65.9% against Carry's 0.02%.

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 Carry is used

Across 1910–2025, Carry was most concentrated in Mississippi — about 1 in 100,000 girls, against 1 in 813,815 across all states with data. It was least common in South Carolina (1 in —).

01 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1Mississippi1 in 100,000
  2. 2California1 in —
  3. 3Georgia1 in —
  4. 4Illinois1 in —
  5. 5Louisiana1 in —
  6. 6South Carolina1 in —

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. Carry has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Carry around the world

Where Carry 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.

  • France
    1985–2011
    #4,814
    in 2011
  • South Australia
    1962–1962
    #647
    in 1962

Popularity data from Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). INSEE data under Licence Ouverte / Etalab 2.0. CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0.

Carry by the numbers

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

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
—
Best rank ever
#740
1884
Peak year
1975
37 that year
First recorded
1881
Last recorded
2001
All-time count
1,359
Count in 2025
Under 5

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
—
Best rank ever
#1,106
1894
Peak year
1964
14 that year
First recorded
1894
Last recorded
1990
All-time count
300
Count in 2025
Under 5

Names similar to Carry

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

CarisCarahCarysCarolaCarsenCarmynCarlinCarmaCarminCarraCarlitaCarminaCarlenaMarryCarlinaCaralynCaridadCarliCarlynCarsynCaraleeCarlynnCarollCarlota

Sibling names for Carry

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 Carry

Top names of 1975, Carry's peak yearThe 1970s in fullOther names that peaked in 1884Girls' names starting with C