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Caryl

UnisexGirls' nameBoys' name

Variant of Carol

Caryl has been given to 6,691 babies in the U.S. since 1896. 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 1947, with 190 recorded. It's used for both sexes: 95% girls, 5% boys all-time.

Babies named Caryl, 1996

1 in 608,000

Caryl over time, 1880–2025

GirlsBoys
05010015020018801900192019401960198020002020

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.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

In 1996, Caryl went to 100% girls and 0% boys.

18961996

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.

Caryl: meaning, origin, and history

Variant of Carol

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Caryl means

Caryl is a variant of Carol.

Documented naming usage and pronunciation

Caryl is used in English.

Another recorded pronunciation is /ˈkæɹ.əl/ for Caryl.

Meaning behind the documented name family

Caryl is a variant of Carol. Carol has more than one origin or interpretation.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Carol.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 6,347 girls were recorded with the name Caryl between 1896 and 1996. Its highest annual count was 190 in 1947; its best national rank was #526 in 1935.

In the United States, 344 boys were recorded with the name Caryl between 1898 and 1994. Its highest annual count was 16 in 1928; its best national rank was #1,149 in 1898.

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 Caryl?

Caryl had fewer than 5 recorded uses in 2025, so these figures use 1996, the last year it was published.

Among all babies, 1996
1 in 608,000
6 of 3,646,048 births
Among girls only
1 in 292,000
<0.01% of girls
Rank, 1996
Unranked
Fewer than 5 uses
Coin-flip room size
421,209 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Caryl 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 1996 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 421,209 children born in 1996 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Caryl. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Caryls were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Caryl was born before 1945 — so the typical Caryl is around 80 today.

Median birth year
1945
About 80 years old
Biggest decade
1940s
23.5% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
4.4%
Mostly a past generation
Recorded since 1950
2,531
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

1940s — 23.5% of all recorded uses (1,490).

Is Caryl 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 1947 (190)
Years since peak
78
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Volatile
25.4% average annual change
Best rank ever
#526
1935

Spellings of Caryl

Caryl is not the most common spelling — Mary is, with 67.8% against Caryl's 0.10%.

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 Caryl is used

Across 1910–2025, Caryl was most concentrated in Illinois — about 1 in 10,000 girls, against 1 in 31,609 across all states with data. It was least common in Tennessee (1 in —).

010 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1Illinois1 in 10,000
  2. 2Wisconsin1 in 12,500
  3. 3New York1 in 14,286
  4. 4Iowa1 in 16,667
  5. 5New Jersey1 in 20,000
  6. 6Ohio1 in 25,000
  7. 7Massachusetts1 in 33,333
  8. 8Michigan1 in 33,333

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

Caryl around the world

Where Caryl 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
    1996–2014
    #5,691
    in 2014
  • South Australia
    1944–1973
    #695
    in 1973

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

Notable people named Caryl

People whose public names include Caryl, 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.

Caryl 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
#526
1935
Peak year
1947
190 that year
First recorded
1896
Last recorded
1996
All-time count
6,347
Count in 2025
Under 5

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
—
Best rank ever
#1,149
1898
Peak year
1928
16 that year
First recorded
1898
Last recorded
1994
All-time count
344
Count in 2025
Under 5

Names similar to Caryl

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

CarliCarmaCarmelCarsonCarysCarsynCarlynCarterCariMerylCarleeCarinCarlieCarieCarisCarenCarinaBerylCarleyCarriCarynCarlinCaronCarey

Names with a curve like Caryl

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

PeggieMickeyGerryGaynellCarrollDeloisDorethaMarilouDarleenGeorgenePhylisErlinda

Sibling names for Caryl

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 Caryl

Top names of 1947, Caryl's peak yearThe 1940s in fullOther names that peaked in 1935Girls' names starting with C