Carys
Carys was given to 32 girls in 2025, #4,374 among girls’ names; 2,327 Americans have been recorded with it since 1991 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 2,310 Americans named Carys and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (99% of everyone recorded); the median is 17 years old and half are between 12 and 20.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Carys by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Carys mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Carys is “a female given name from Welsh.” Its etymology gives the sense “love” (caru).
From Welsh Carus, Carys, from caru (“love”).
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Carys?
#4,374 among girls’ names, 2025
Carys fell from #2,280 in 2015 to #4,374 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born fell from 45.9 to 19.9 per million.
196 babies in 2006, the peak
Carys peaked in 2006, when 196 girls were given it, #1,227 among girls’ names. The 32 births of 2025 are 16% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 32 | #4,374 | 0.02 |
| 2024 | 29 | #4,686 | 0.02 |
| 2023 | 22 | #5,586 | 0.01 |
| 2022 | 40 | #3,778 | 0.02 |
| 2021 | 32 | #4,340 | 0.02 |
| 2020 | 34 | #4,096 | 0.02 |
| 2019 | 56 | #2,934 | 0.03 |
| 2018 | 59 | #2,846 | 0.03 |
| 2017 | 54 | #3,023 | 0.03 |
| 2016 | 61 | #2,808 | 0.03 |
Every recorded year (35)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 82 | #2,280 | 0.05 |
| 2014 | 114 | #1,795 | 0.06 |
| 2013 | 123 | #1,696 | 0.07 |
| 2012 | 131 | #1,640 | 0.07 |
| 2011 | 139 | #1,571 | 0.08 |
| 2010 | 114 | #1,799 | 0.06 |
| 2009 | 138 | #1,622 | 0.08 |
| 2008 | 178 | #1,362 | 0.09 |
| 2007 | 145 | #1,563 | 0.08 |
| 2006 | 196 | #1,227 | 0.10 |
| 2005 | 131 | #1,554 | 0.07 |
| 2004 | 178 | #1,231 | 0.10 |
| 2003 | 106 | #1,774 | 0.06 |
| 2002 | 16 | #6,757 | 0.01 |
| 2001 | 16 | #6,672 | 0.01 |
| 2000 | 19 | #5,743 | 0.01 |
| 1999 | 9 | #9,632 | 0.01 |
| 1998 | 6 | #12,718 | under 0.01 |
| 1997 | 16 | #5,921 | 0.01 |
| 1996 | 6 | #12,092 | under 0.01 |
| 1995 | 12 | #7,128 | 0.01 |
| 1994 | 9 | #8,932 | 0.01 |
| 1993 | 9 | #8,837 | under 0.01 |
| 1992 | 8 | #9,617 | under 0.01 |
| 1991 | 7 | #10,439 | under 0.01 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Carys a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Carys has been recorded only for girls: SSA lists no boys with the name in 35 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Carys: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Carys, and how old are they?
2,310 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 99% of the 2,327 Americans ever recorded as Carys. The median Carys alive today is 17 years old; half are between 12 and 20.
The 2020 Census counted 2,133 people named Carys (2,123 women and girls, 10 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 2,130 born in the U.S. The Census count matches that prediction to within 1%.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 50 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 1,520 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 733 |
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 Carys born?
The states with the most babies named Carys are California, Texas and New York, with 43% of its births recorded by state since 1910.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 197 | not ranked | 0.6× |
| Texas | 190 | not ranked | 0.8× |
| New York | 86 | not ranked | 0.6× |
| Ohio | 82 | not ranked | 0.9× |
| Virginia | 81 | not ranked | 1.3× |
| Florida | 79 | not ranked | 0.6× |
| Pennsylvania | 68 | not ranked | 0.8× |
| Illinois | 50 | not ranked | 0.5× |
| Georgia | 40 | not ranked | 0.5× |
| Massachusetts | 37 | not ranked | 0.8× |
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 Carys 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 6 names spelled alike, given to 11,181 babies since 1880, Carys is the second most given (21% of them). In 2025 it was given to 32 of their 147 babies (22%), again the second most given.
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 Carys
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 Carys and names like it
- Compare Carys and KarisBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 2000sCarys peaked in 2006.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Carys since 1910.
- Welsh namesWiktionary’s origin for Carys: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 2006The year the most babies were named Carys.
- The names of Generation ZMost people named Carys alive today were born 1997-2012.
- Names starting with CMost given first.