Name Awesome

Karly

#2,631 in 2025Girls' name

Free man, through Carly

Karly has been given to 10,871 babies in the U.S. since 1972. In 2025 it ranked #2,631 of 17,293 girls’ names in use. Its peak year was 1993, with 427 recorded.

Babies named Karly, 2025

1 in 50,200

Karly over time, 1880–2025

GirlsBoys
020040060018801900192019401960198020002020

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Karly: meaning, origin, and history

Free man, through Carly

Germanic languages

What Karly means

Karly belongs to the name family reached through Karly → Carly → Carl → Charles. Its meaning is “free man”.

Origin, language, and formation

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

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Carly, Carl and Charles.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 10,866 girls were recorded with the name Karly between 1972 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 427 in 1993; its best national rank was #558 in 1992.

Over 5 years its rank fell, from #2,141 in 2020 to #2,631 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank fell, from #1,333 in 2015 to #2,631 in 2025.

In the United States, 5 boys were recorded with the name Karly between 1978 and 1978. Its highest annual count was 5 in 1978; its best national rank was #6,291 in 1978.

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 Karly?

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

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 50,200
66 of 3,315,165 births
Among girls only
1 in 24,400
<0.01% of girls
Rank, 2025
#2,631
of 17,293 girls’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
34,818 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Karly 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 34,818 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Karly. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Karlys were born

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

Median birth year
1999
About 26 years old
Biggest decade
1990s
33.7% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
46.9%
Spread across generations
Recorded since 1950
10,866
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

1990s — 33.7% of all recorded uses (3,666).

Is Karly 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
−59
Places dropped
Rank vs 5 years ago
−490
Places dropped
Rank vs 10 years ago
−1,298
Places dropped
Births vs 10 years ago
0.37×
Fewer babies than then
Share of its own peak
15.5%
Peak was 1993 (427)
Years since peak
32
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Shifting
13.6% average annual change
Best rank ever
#558
1992

Spellings of Karly

Karly is not the most common spelling — Mary is, with 51.9% against Karly's 0.14%.

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 Karly is used

Across 2016–2025, Karly was most concentrated in Mississippi — about 1 in 7,692 girls, against 1 in 21,387 across all states with data. It was least common in Pennsylvania (1 in 100,000).

113 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1Mississippi1 in 7,692
  2. 2Texas1 in 12,500
  3. 3Ohio1 in 14,286
  4. 4Georgia1 in 16,667
  5. 5California1 in 20,000
  6. 6Iowa1 in 20,000
  7. 7Kansas1 in 20,000
  8. 8Michigan1 in 20,000

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.

Karly around the world

Where Karly 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
    1996–2017
    #5,765
    in 2017
  • Scotland
    1982–2018
    #809
    in 2018
  • Northern Ireland
    2010–2010
    #366
    in 2010
  • Ireland
    2009–2019
    #871
    in 2019
  • France
    1996–2016
    #5,668
    in 2016
  • Canada
    1991–2023
    #3,391
    in 2023
  • South Australia
    1973–2012
    #871
    in 2012

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, National Records of Scotland, Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency, Central Statistics Office, Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques, 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. INSEE data under Licence Ouverte / Etalab 2.0. StatCan data under Statistics Canada Open Licence.

Notable people named Karly

People whose public names include Karly, 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.

Karly in other languages

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

CarliCarlyCarleeKarleeKarlie

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

Karly by the numbers

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

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
#2,631
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Down 490
Best rank ever
#558
1992
Peak year
1993
427 that year
First recorded
1972
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
10,866
Count in 2025
66

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
—
Best rank ever
#6,291
1978
Peak year
1978
5 that year
First recorded
1978
Last recorded
1978
All-time count
5
Count in 2025
Under 5

Names similar to Karly

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

KarliKarolKarmaKarisKarieKarlieKarrieKarriKarsynKarleeKarleyKarmenKarynKarterKaronKarenaKarolynKarissaKarlaKarelyKarimeKarinKarlynKarmyn

Names with a curve like Karly

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

CaylaTessMarielaTiannaFabiolaAlexAliElyssaMoriahChristianaCarlieEryn

Sibling names for Karly

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 Karly

Top names of 1993, Karly's peak yearThe 1990s in fullOther names that peaked in 1992Girls' names starting with K