Humanverse

Carl vs Carlosmanuel

American parents have registered 508,017 Carls since 1880, against 50 Carlosmanuels. Carl is still ahead, with 187 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Carl against Carlosmanuel, 1880 to 2025 0 2.5k 5k 7.5k 10k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Carl Carlosmanuel

Each line is every baby given the name that year, girls and boys added together — the only count that means the same thing for both names. A line breaks where the name fell below five babies in a year — the point at which the SSA stops publishing it — rather than being drawn through a figure nobody published. A single published year in a gap shows as a dot.

Who was ahead

Carl has been the commoner name in every year either was published, 1880 to 2025. The lead has never changed hands.

The closest they came was 2001, when Carl had 882 and Carlosmanuel had 16.

Side by side

  Carl Carlosmanuel
Total US births 508,01750
Most in one year 8,34516
Babies in 2025 187under 5
Estimated living today 226,00050
Median age today 6322
Peak year 19562001
Best rank 48th boys4,676th boys
Rank in 2025 1,132ndunranked
First recorded 18802001
Girls / boys 3,190 / 504,8270 / 50

A rank is a position within one sex’s list for one year, so the two rank rows are not subtracted from one another and the winning column is not marked on them. The living figure is a life-table estimate, not a count.

Which name is older

Half of the Carls alive today are over 63; half the Carlosmanuels are over 22. That is 41 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.

Compare something else

Related comparisons

Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Carl and Carlosmanuel.