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Girl · Germanic, through English
Carly
Say it: KAR-lee
Meaning
A pet form of Carla or Caroline, feminine forms of Charles (Germanic karl 'free man').
Certainscholars agree on this meaning.
Popular in the US from the 1970s.
Its wave through time
Most used in the 1990s
In the United States
- 64,876 babies given this name since 1951
- At its height in 1995, about 1 in 680 girls
- 469 babies in 2020
Through the ages
Used by
The family of the name
Other spellings: Carley, Carlie, Karly
Famous bearers
- Carly Simon, American singer
Names worth a look
Where this comes from
- United States Social Security birth records, 1880 to today source
- United States Social Security birth records, 1880 to today source
Meanings and histories are compiled from the study of names and their languages and checked by a second review.
Meanings and histories are drawn from the study of names and their languages, each with a confidence rating; popularity figures come from official birth records. Name histories are a living field: if you know of a correction, we would be glad to hear it.