How Many People Are Named Carley?
An estimated 16,300 people in the United States have the first name Carley. It is predominantly female (97.6%). The average bearer is 27 years old, and Carley peaked in popularity in 1998 with 718 births that year.
Below you will find a full statistical profile of Carley as a first name in the United States, including gender data, a year-by-year popularity timeline going back to 1880, a decade breakdown, and state-by-state birth registrations. You can also check how many people share the full name Carley paired with any surname.
Key Insights
- While Carley is overwhelmingly female, 410 male births have been registered with this name since 1880.
Estimated Living Americans
16,300
About 1 in 21,028 people in the U.S.
Rarity
Uncommon
Predicted Gender
Female
97.6% confidence
Average Age
27
years old
Peak Year
1998
718 births
Total Registered
17,269
since 1880
Gender Distribution for Carley
Carley is predominantly female (97.6%), though 410 male births have been registered. It functions as a unisex name for a small percentage of bearers.
Carley as a male name
Ranked #8,254 in 2004
8 male births in 2004
Peak: 1920 (15 births)
Carley as a female name
Ranked #3,048 in 2024
53 female births in 2024
Peak: 1998 (713 births)
Carley: Popularity Over Time
SSA records for Carley span from the 1910s to the 2020s, covering 12 decades of naming data. The most popular decade for this name was the 1990s, when 5,934 babies were registered. Carley has declined significantly from its peak in the 1990s. Recent registrations are a fraction of what they were at the name's height.
Carley by Decade
How has Carley tracked across different eras? The table below groups all SSA birth registrations into 10-year periods, with separate male and female counts. The colored bar shows each decade's share relative to the peak.
Carley by State
Birth registrations for Carley span all 43 states and territories in the SSA database. The highest counts are in Texas, California, Pennsylvania. The lowest are in South Dakota, New Hampshire, Hawaii. On average, about 327 Carleys were registered per state.
Carley + Last Name Combinations
How many people share a full name with Carley as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Names Similar to Carley
Other first names starting with C with a similar number of bearers.
Carley: Questions and Answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Carley?
We estimate approximately 16,300 people named Carley are alive in the United States today. This is based on SSA birth records from 1880 to 2024, adjusted for mortality using CDC life tables. About 1 in 21,028 Americans share this first name.
Is Carley a common name?
Carley is classified as "Uncommon" and is more popular than 98.3% of all first names in the SSA database. A total of 17,269 births have been registered with this name since 1880.
When was Carley most popular?
Carley reached peak popularity in 1998, when 718 babies were given this name. The average age of a living person named Carley is approximately 27 years old, reflecting when the name was most commonly given.
Is Carley a female name?
Carley is predominantly female. 97.6% of people with this name are female. See the gender breakdown above for full details.
How many Carley Smiths are there?
To find how many people share a specific full name, we combine first name and surname frequencies. Try: Carley Smith, Carley Johnson, Carley Williams. You can also search any combination on our homepage.
Where does this data come from?
Our estimates use Social Security Administration birth records (1880 to 2024), adjusted for survival using CDC 2023 life tables broken down by sex. The U.S. population figure (342,754,338) is from the Census Bureau's July 2025 estimate. Full methodology.
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