Caryl
Caryl was last recorded in 1996, when 6 babies were given it; 6,691 Americans have been recorded with it between 1896 and 1996 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 3,320 Americans named Caryl and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (50% of everyone recorded); the median is 72 years old and half are between 65 and 80.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Caryl by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
How popular is Caryl?
Unranked in 2025
Its last girls’ rank on record is #12,091, in 1996; SSA lists a name only in years with 5 or more births.
200 babies in 1947, the peak
Caryl peaked in 1947, when 200 babies were given it (190 girls, #610 among girls’ names). It was not recorded in 2025.
Births by sex.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1996 | 6 | #12,091 | under 0.01 |
| 1994 | 7 | #10,752 | under 0.01 |
| 1992 | 9 | #8,843 | under 0.01 |
| 1991 | 7 | #10,438 | under 0.01 |
| 1989 | 8 | #8,875 | under 0.01 |
| 1988 | 13 | #5,949 | 0.01 |
| 1987 | 12 | #5,973 | 0.01 |
| 1986 | 10 | #6,669 | 0.01 |
| 1985 | 10 | #6,529 | 0.01 |
| 1984 | 7 | #8,281 | under 0.01 |
Every recorded year (91)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1983 | 10 | #6,282 | 0.01 |
| 1982 | 9 | #6,960 | 0.01 |
| 1981 | 13 | #5,296 | 0.01 |
| 1980 | 13 | #5,274 | 0.01 |
| 1979 | 19 | #3,929 | 0.01 |
| 1978 | 17 | #4,098 | 0.01 |
| 1977 | 23 | #3,284 | 0.02 |
| 1976 | 11 | #5,254 | 0.01 |
| 1975 | 16 | #3,969 | 0.01 |
| 1974 | 16 | #3,880 | 0.01 |
| 1973 | 18 | #3,499 | 0.01 |
| 1972 | 26 | #2,691 | 0.02 |
| 1971 | 18 | #3,523 | 0.01 |
| 1970 | 40 | #2,049 | 0.02 |
| 1969 | 36 | #2,107 | 0.02 |
| 1968 | 58 | #1,492 | 0.04 |
| 1967 | 50 | #1,600 | 0.03 |
| 1966 | 62 | #1,396 | 0.04 |
| 1965 | 69 | #1,305 | 0.04 |
| 1964 | 86 | #1,190 | 0.05 |
| 1963 | 93 | #1,135 | 0.05 |
| 1962 | 89 | #1,159 | 0.05 |
| 1961 | 101 | #1,091 | 0.05 |
| 1960 | 112 | #1,015 | 0.06 |
| 1959 | 145 | #849 | 0.07 |
| 1958 | 155 | #808 | 0.08 |
| 1957 | 163 | #789 | 0.08 |
| 1956 | 176 | #728 | 0.09 |
| 1955 | 121 | #882 | 0.06 |
| 1954 | 131 | #821 | 0.07 |
| 1953 | 118 | #860 | 0.06 |
| 1952 | 140 | #752 | 0.08 |
| 1951 | 123 | #802 | 0.07 |
| 1950 | 165 | #663 | 0.10 |
| 1949 | 154 | #670 | 0.09 |
| 1948 | 143 | #695 | 0.08 |
| 1947 | 190 | #610 | 0.11 |
| 1946 | 136 | #682 | 0.09 |
| 1945 | 135 | #625 | 0.10 |
| 1944 | 123 | #668 | 0.09 |
| 1943 | 135 | #653 | 0.10 |
| 1942 | 177 | #558 | 0.13 |
| 1941 | 143 | #584 | 0.12 |
| 1940 | 154 | #559 | 0.13 |
| 1939 | 115 | #633 | 0.10 |
| 1938 | 148 | #561 | 0.13 |
| 1937 | 124 | #604 | 0.12 |
| 1936 | 147 | #537 | 0.14 |
| 1935 | 150 | #526 | 0.14 |
| 1934 | 137 | #552 | 0.13 |
| 1933 | 101 | #654 | 0.10 |
| 1932 | 109 | #639 | 0.10 |
| 1931 | 94 | #689 | 0.09 |
| 1930 | 130 | #606 | 0.12 |
| 1929 | 140 | #579 | 0.13 |
| 1928 | 112 | #661 | 0.10 |
| 1927 | 83 | #798 | 0.07 |
| 1926 | 82 | #802 | 0.07 |
| 1925 | 61 | #954 | 0.05 |
| 1924 | 81 | #832 | 0.06 |
| 1923 | 75 | #846 | 0.06 |
| 1922 | 48 | #1,106 | 0.04 |
| 1921 | 49 | #1,081 | 0.04 |
| 1920 | 41 | #1,191 | 0.03 |
| 1919 | 36 | #1,273 | 0.03 |
| 1918 | 31 | #1,386 | 0.03 |
| 1917 | 37 | #1,184 | 0.03 |
| 1916 | 51 | #960 | 0.05 |
| 1915 | 33 | #1,199 | 0.03 |
| 1914 | 17 | #1,609 | 0.02 |
| 1913 | 21 | #1,235 | 0.03 |
| 1912 | 15 | #1,425 | 0.03 |
| 1911 | 9 | #1,682 | 0.02 |
| 1909 | 7 | #1,796 | 0.02 |
| 1908 | 8 | #1,562 | 0.02 |
| 1906 | 5 | #1,996 | 0.02 |
| 1905 | 7 | #1,561 | 0.02 |
| 1901 | 5 | #1,716 | 0.02 |
| 1900 | 6 | #1,756 | 0.02 |
| 1898 | 6 | #1,530 | 0.02 |
| 1896 | 5 | #1,621 | 0.02 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Caryl a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Of the 6,691 Americans recorded as Caryl, 95% are girls and 5% boys.
Years with fewer than 20 babies given the name are left blank.
Girls and boys named Caryl: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Caryl, and how old are they?
3,320 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 50% of the 6,691 Americans ever recorded as Caryl. The median Caryl alive today is 72 years old; half are between 65 and 80.
The 2020 Census counted 4,581 people named Caryl (4,395 women and girls, 186 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 4,019 born in the U.S. The Census count is 14% above that prediction. Possible reasons: the Census counts people born abroad, whom SSA’s files leave out, and it records the name people give, which SSA may have recorded under another spelling or as part of a compound name.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 751 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 1,980 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 455 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 129 |
An estimate, not a count. SSA’s files count people born in the United States who received a Social Security number, so anyone born abroad is not in them; before 1937 most people got a number as adults, and their survival is counted from that age.
Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).
Where are babies named Caryl born?
The states with the most babies named Caryl are New York, Illinois and California, with 53% of its births recorded by state since 1910.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| New York | 911 | not ranked | 1.5× |
| Illinois | 781 | not ranked | 2.2× |
| California | 364 | not ranked | 0.9× |
| Ohio | 307 | not ranked | 0.9× |
| Wisconsin | 260 | not ranked | 1.6× |
| Pennsylvania | 234 | not ranked | 0.5× |
| New Jersey | 211 | not ranked | 1.1× |
| Michigan | 155 | not ranked | 0.5× |
| Iowa | 123 | not ranked | 1.0× |
| Massachusetts | 120 | not ranked | 0.6× |
Where Caryl is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Caryl is most over-represented in Illinois: since 1910 it was given 2.2 times as often there as its national share each year would predict.
States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among girls’ names in the state in 2025. The file leaves out any state and year with fewer than 5 babies of the name, so small states are undercounted; each ratio compares the state’s births of Caryl with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names spelled alike
Of these 8 names spelled alike, given to 849,529 babies since 1880, Caryl is the third most given (<1% of them). In 2025 none of their 132 babies recorded by SSA was a Caryl (SSA lists a name only with 5 or more babies of one sex).
Spelled alike: names in the SSA national file with the same pattern of letters and sounds and at most two letters apart, and Wiktionary’s listed forms; births since 1880 and in 2025, and each name’s peak year, from the SSA national file, published May 8, 2026. Some are separate names, not spellings of one.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Caryl
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
More about Caryl and names like it
- Compare Caryl and CarolBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1940sCaryl peaked in 1947.
- New York’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Caryl since 1910.
- The top names of 1947The year the most babies were named Caryl.
- The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Caryl alive today were born 1946-1964.
- Names starting with CMost given first.