Carol
Meaning
song of joy
Carol around the world
One shared root links 24 names across 7 languages.
Shared root: from Germanic karl "man", Latinized as Carolus and spread everywhere by Charlemagne's fame
The constellation
16 more branches of this family
Carol in song
Oh! Carol
Neil Sedaka (1959)
Neil Sedaka wrote it about his high school friend Carole King, who cheerfully answered back with a record of her own called Oh Neil.
Popularity, 1890–2024
Shape drawn from US Social Security baby-name records. Carol peaked in the 1940s.
See popularity in Brazil
Popularity in Brazil
21,024 people · the #1,028 first name in Brazil · about 1 in 9,615 · median age 22
Among people named Carol living in Brazil at the 2022 census, more were born in the 2000s than in any other decade.
The census also counted 571 born between 2020 and August 2022, too recent a span to chart.
Source: IBGE, Censo Demográfico 2022
When you meet Carol
Most people given the name Carol in the United States were born between 1940 and 1969. The Carol you meet today is most often in her 60s or 70s.
Estimated from US Social Security birth registrations and typical lifespans; a rough guide, not a rule.
The Carol deep dive
Whether you’re naming a baby or exploring your own name’s history, this is a personal letter, not a list: where Carol truly comes from, how it traveled, and what a century of records reveals. If you have grown a tree on nametree, it also considers how Carol fits with your family’s names and surname.
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