Carlos — #135 US boys' name
304,581 babies named Carlos in U.S. Social Security records since 1880, with the highest year being 2001. Year-by-year trend, decade aggregates, and state-level rankings drawn from federal birth data.
More common than 99.1% of names given to boys today.
21% of everyone ever named Carlos was born in this single decade.
6,842 babies were named Carlos in 2001 — its busiest year on record.
What the Data Says About Carlos
The Social Security Administration has registered 304,581 babies named Carlos between 1880 and 2024, spanning 145 consecutive years of U.S. birth records. As a boy's name, Carlos currently holds the #135 rank among boys for 2024. The name reached its historical peak in 2001, when 6,842 babies received it in a single year.
Decade-level aggregation shows that Carlos performed strongest in the 2000s, accumulating 63,196 births during that ten-year window. Across the 15 decades of recorded activity, Carlos shows a clear decline from its mid-century high. Geographically, the name is most concentrated in California, which accounts for 77,281 births — the largest state-level total in the dataset — followed by Texas and New York. In total, SSA state-level files list Carlos in 51 of the 51 U.S. reporting jurisdictions.
No etymological entry is currently available for Carlos in our reference dataset. These figures derive from SSA's annual national and state-level name files, which include any name appearing at least five times in a given year or state-year; names below that threshold are suppressed for privacy and therefore excluded from the totals shown here. The 304,581 total represents a lower bound — actual usage may be higher in years or states where the count fell below the disclosure floor. This page is provided for informational and research purposes only and does not constitute personal, legal, or naming advice.
Carlos at a glance
Top 1,000 boys' namePeak year
Current rank
Active since
Carlos popularity over time — boys
Annual U.S. births registered with the Social Security Administration · 2024–1880
- Peak year (2001)
- 6,842
- Annual births at peak — across 145 years of records
Currently ranks #135 among boys.
304,581 total births across 145 years of SSA records. Peaked in 2001 with 6,842 births in a single year.
Carlos popularity over time — girls
2,040 total births recorded since 1913 (Carlos as girls' name)
Unisex use remains the minority pattern
The girls' variant of Carlos accounts for 1% of total recorded use across both genders.
Carlos by decade
Total births in each ten-year window — peak vs trough at a glance
- Peak decade
- 2000s
- 63,196 births that decade — 21% of Carlos's all-time total
Carlos decade highlights
- Peak decade 63,196 births
- Runner-up 55,179 births
- Modern era share 2010s + 2020s
- Decades tracked with recorded births
2000s was Carlos's strongest decade
63,196 babies received the name during that ten-year window — about 21% of all-time use.
Carlos by state
Where Carlos concentrates geographically — total births since 1880
| Rank | State | Visual share | Births | Share of total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| #1 | California | | 77,281 | 25.4% |
| #2 | Texas | | 60,064 | 19.7% |
| #3 | New York | | 25,449 | 8.4% |
| #4 | Florida | | 15,597 | 5.1% |
| #5 | Illinois | | 12,892 | 4.2% |
| #6 | Arizona | | 11,567 | 3.8% |
| #7 | New Jersey | | 7,971 | 2.6% |
| #8 | Georgia | | 6,443 | 2.1% |
77,281 of 304,581 births nationwide. Compared to a flat distribution across 51 reporting states.
Top 5 states
- California 25.4% of nationwide
- Texas 19.7% of nationwide
- New York 8.4% of nationwide
- Florida 5.1% of nationwide
- Illinois 4.2% of nationwide
Recorded in 51 of 51 SSA jurisdictions
California accounts for 25.4% of all recorded births nationwide — a strong regional concentration for this name.
Carlos appears in 51 states. Explore state details →
Frequently Asked Questions
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Data Sources
Data as of 2024. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration (SSA).
Primary: Source: U.S. Social Security Administration, Baby Names from Social Security Card Applications — National Data, 1880–2024 (ssa.gov/oact/babynames). National-level data includes all names with 5 or more occurrences in a given year.
State-level: Source: U.S. Social Security Administration, Baby Names — State-Level Files (namesbystate.zip). Includes all names with 5 or more occurrences per state per year; rarer names are excluded for privacy.