Carol vs Karolee
American parents have registered 825,584 Carols since 1880, against 180 Karolees. Carol is still ahead, with 82 babies in 2025.
Babies given each name, 1880–2025
Carol Karolee
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
Carol 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 1974, when Carol had 2,060 and Karolee had 5.
Side by side
| Carol | Karolee | |
|---|---|---|
| Total US births | 825,584 | 180 |
| Most in one year | 34,458 | 14 |
| Babies in 2025 | 82 | under 5 |
| Estimated living today | 525,000 | 140 |
| Median age today | 73 | 67 |
| Peak year | 1946 | 1962 |
| Best rank | 5th girls | 3,438th girls |
| Rank in 2025 | 2,239th | unranked |
| First recorded | 1880 | 1939 |
| Girls / boys | 816,928 / 8,656 | 180 / 0 |
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 Carols alive today are over 73; half the Karolees are over 67. That is 6 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: Carol and Karolee.