How rare is the name Carlyn?

3,797 people in the United States have the first name Carlyn, about 1 in 79,545. It ranks #4,774 of 53,615 first names in the 2020 Census.

first name

CARLYN

#4,774

of 53,615 first names recorded in the 2020 Census

People
3,797
About
1 in 79,545
This common or more
84.5%
Who bears it

Of the 3,797 people named Carlyn, 73.2% reported their origin as White, 13% as Black and 5.1% as Hispanic or Latino. 96.3% are female. These count how people described themselves on the 2020 Census, not where the name comes from.

Carlyn peaked in 1994, when 78 babies got the name.

Births per year, SSA records 1880–2025
19002025
Peak year
1994
Births that year
78
In 2025*
12 ▼85%
Recorded as
almost entirely female

At least 4,373 babies have been given the name since 1900. Years SSA withheld, because fewer than 5 were born, are skipped rather than drawn as zero. * 2025 is the newest year published and it undercounts: a card application is filed some time after a birth.

Carlyn by decade

Among all names given to American babies, its best decade was the 1940s, when it ranked #2,046. The largest share of babies named Carlyn, 22.7%, were born between 1981 and 1996, as millennials.

1900s#3,50922
1910s#4,019105
1920s#3,529196
1930s#2,446302
1940s#2,046499
1950s#2,629422
1960s#2,801437
1970s#3,928320
1980s#3,140567
1990s#3,700619
2000s#5,333505
2010s#7,962302
2020s#13,80377
Before 19010.1%
Greatest Generation 1901–276.2%
Silent Generation 1928–4515.2%
Baby boom 1946–6419.2%
Generation X 1965–8012.9%
Millennials 1981–9622.7%
Generation Z 1997–1217.5%
2013 and later6.3%

Rank counts both sexes together, among every name SSA recorded that decade; the number under it is births. The 2020s run only to 2025. Generation years follow Pew Research Center, which has not named a generation after 2012.

Either side of Carlyn

#4,771 Ninfa · 3,798#4,771 Sherwin · 3,798#4,775 Servando · 3,796#4,776 Jakub · 3,795

Spelled almost the same

8 first names in the 2020 Census spelled within a letter or two of Carlyn, most common first.

#121 Carolyn · 384,056#4,891 Carlin · 3,660#12,289 Caralyn · 1,016#14,020 Carlon · 848#15,284 Carlynn · 755#15,522 Carlen · 740#20,031 Carilyn · 520#20,915 Carloyn · 490

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