Carol

Origin & meaning

Carol is a given name of Germanic origin, traditionally understood to mean free woman, a feminine form of Charles. Names like this one traveled far from their roots — carried by scripture, saints, royalty, and popular culture — before settling into everyday American use. Its meaning has stayed remarkably steady even as its pronunciation and spelling shifted from one language to the next.

Popularity by decade

Given names rise and fall with each generation. Carol saw its strongest years around the 1960s, and its relative popularity across the second half of the twentieth century and into the twenty-first is sketched below. Reading a name’s peak decade is often a useful clue to a person’s likely age.

• 1950s91
• 1960s92
• 1970s69
• 1980s39
• 1990s25
• 2000s37
• 2010s67

Relative index (0–100), shown for illustration. Peaks and dips reflect broad generational trends.