Carolyn
given name · Latin script
Meaning: A female given name from the Germanic languages, a variant of Caroline used since the 19th century
Recorded as a female name· opposite-gender records fall within measured source noise
/kæɹəlɪn/(machine-generated) pronunciation, model-generated
Carolyn is a given name written in the Latin script, with more bearers in the United States than in any other country. In Laos it is the 22nd most common given name.
- NZNew Zealand≈1 in 552(inferred from the name graph)
- GBUnited Kingdom≈1 in 718
- LALaos≈1 in 719
carrying the name, as counted by its national register where one exists and as Mondonomo estimates it elsewhere (marked ≈ and "est." on hover). Where a country counts another spelling of the name rather than Carolyn itself, the figure is that spelling’s, and it is named. One hue, darker where it is more common; hover a country for its figure.
- United States (measured from records)
- #243 (measured from records)
- 5 (measured from records)
- Sources
- 595 (measured from records)
- ≈1 in 552 (inferred from the name graph)
384,056 people, 2020
of 15M given names
recorded for this name
Highest-authority source
New Zealand, est.
measured from records inferred from the name graph
Spellings & scripts(measured from records)
Locally spelled Carlota in BR Brazil, ES Spain, Carolin in PL Poland, SE Sweden and Carolina in LA Laos.
Spellings marked ● are how people bearing the name write it in our records, and ○ marks a model's transliteration; click a spelling to open its page.
Meaning & origin(measured from records)
A female given name from the Germanic languages, a variant of Caroline used since the 19th century.
Sources 1
- kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)
Attested across 13 languages in the etymology graph.
Where in the world(measured from records)
Carolyn counted together with the spellings and other-language forms grouped with it. Where a register counted another spelling, the row names it.
Sorted by bearers: national registers' counts, and Mondonomo's estimates (≈, est.) where no register counts.
| Country | Most common spelling | Sources | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US United States | #106 | 384,056 | 1 in 866 | 384K | Carolyn | 595 |
| BR Brazil | — | 303,790as Carla | 1 in 697 | 327K | Carlota | 77 |
| PL Poland | — | 295,015as Karolina | 1 in 130 | 295K | Carolin | 7 |
| GB United Kingdom | #154 | ≈92,000 est. | ≈1 in 718 | 6 | Carolyn | 288 |
| ES Spain | #357 | 87,268as Carla | 1 in 573 | 87K | Carlota | 177 |
| CZ Czechia | — | 73,994as Karolína | 1 in 145 | 74K | — | 2 |
| SE Sweden | — | 21,480as Karolina | 1 in 475 | 21K | Carolin | 46 |
| LA Laos | #22 | ≈10,000 est. | ≈1 in 719 | — | Carolina | 11 |
| NZ New Zealand | #101 | ≈8,900 est. | ≈1 in 552 | 10 | Carolyn | 140 |
| MD Moldova | — | 6,827as Carolina | 1 in 493 | 6.8K | — | 14 |
384,056 people counted by Census Bureau — First Name Frequency 2020 by sex, 2020. Exact figures are national registers' own counts, while figures marked ≈ and est. are Mondonomo’s estimates, counted from our sources and calibrated against those registers; hover one for how far to trust it in that country. A dash means neither exists.
Registers cited: Census Bureau — First Name Frequency 2020 by sex; IBGE — names by decade (Kaggle mirror); IBGE — Nomes (census name API); dane.gov.pl — PESEL given names (first + second name position, 2026-01-20); dane.gov.pl — PESEL living persons (names); NRS — Baby names Scotland full list (1974–present); INE — Padrón per-token widgets (current living counts, given + apellidos); MVČR — living population register 2017; Skatteverket — Sök hur många som har ett visst namn (living population); DIA — Baby name popularity (1900–present); e-services.md — living population register. Figures without a register are Mondonomo estimates; see Methodology.
Country figures for a list of names, at full precision, are available under licence rather than by scraping this table (how that works).
Other recorded senses(measured from records)
Carolyn is also recorded in one other lexicon, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.
Altered form of Caroline.
as a nameA concise dictionary of first names
Ordered by how much of this spelling's record each language holds, so a sense from a language the name is barely used in sits last rather than first.
Notable people with this name(measured from records)
- Carolyn Shoemakerb. 1929USAmerican astronomer, researcher and university teacher
- Carolyn Jonesb. 1930USAmerican actress (1930–1983)
- C. J. Cherryhb. 1942USnot in their usual nameUnited States science fiction and fantasy author
- Carolyn B. Maloneyb. 1946USU.S. Representative from New York
- Carolyn Porcob. 1953USAmerican planetary scientist
- Carolyn McCormickb. 1959USAmerican actress
- Carol Greiderb. 1961USnot in their usual nameAmerican molecular biologist
- Carolyn Hennesyb. 1962USAmerican actress
- Carolyn Bertozzib. 1966USAmerican chemist (born 1966)
- Carolyn Bessette-Kennedyb. 1966USAmerican publicist and socialite (1966–1999)
The ten people covered by the most Wikipedia language editions — a proxy for cross-cultural notability, which favours historical and Western figures over equally prominent contemporary ones — shown by birth year. Source: Wikidata (CC0).
How to address them(machine-generated)
A formal English salutation is built on the surname, so it needs a full name — on its own, a first name only supports the informal form.
Evidence(measured from records)
Attested in 71 sources across 39 countries.
| Country | Register | Year | Count | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| US United States | Census Bureau — First Name Frequency 2020 by sex | 2020 | 384K | #121 |
| US United States | Census Bureau — First Name Frequency 2020 by sex | 2020 | 331 | #121 |
| SE Sweden | Skatteverket — Sök hur många som har ett visst namn (living population) | — | 205 | #5,151 |
| US United States | SSA — National Baby Names (1880–present) | 2025 | 185 | — |
| BR Brazil | IBGE — names by decade (Kaggle mirror) | 2022 | 165 | — |
| BR Brazil | IBGE — Censo 2022 Nomes no Brasil per-token lookup (v3 API, given+surname) | — | 163 | #29,146 |
| ES Spain | INE — Padrón per-token widgets (current living counts, given + apellidos) | — | 152 | #11,224 |
| ES Spain | INE — Nombres más frecuentes (Padrón Municipal) | — | 137 | #5,432 |
| BR Brazil | IBGE — Nomes (census name API) | — | 123 | #32,880 |
| SE Sweden | SCB — Namnstatistik (to 2023) | 2020 | 113 | — |
| PL Poland | dane.gov.pl — PESEL living persons (names) | — | 61 | #2,060 |
| PL Poland | dane.gov.pl — PESEL given names (first + second name position, 2026-01-20) | 2026 | 61 | #2,060 |
Reference works 3
- Nişanyan Adlar (Turkish given-name national-registry frequency)
- Wikipedia given-name tokens
- Wikidata name items (native-script + romanized given/family names)
These works list the name; their figures are licensed and are not reproduced here.
Register rows as of the 2026-10-09 data build.
Frequently asked questions
- What does the name Carolyn mean, and where does it come from?
- A female given name from the Germanic languages, a variant of Caroline used since the 19th century. Recorded by kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations).
- What are other forms of the name Carolyn?
- In the etymology graph, Carolina, Carla and Caroline are forms of the same name in other languages.
- Is Carolyn a male or female name?
- Carolyn is a female name in our records. Opposite-gender entries fall within the cross-gender noise we measure in the source data, so we don't report them as usage.
- How do you pronounce Carolyn?
- A machine transcription gives /kæɹəlɪn/ (IPA) for English.
- In which country does Carolyn have the most bearers?
- In the United States, the national register counted about 384 thousand people named Carolyn, more than in any other country we hold, where it is most often spelled carolyn.
- How common is the name Carolyn?
- In the United States, the national register counted 384,056 people named Carolyn in 2020, about 1 in 866 residents.
- How common is Carolyn compared with other names?
- In the United States, Carolyn is the 106th most common given name of 2,815,431 given names recorded there.
What do you want to know about Carolyn?
Nobody replies to these one by one, but what readers ask decides what these pages answer next.
Query this name via API
curl -H "X-API-Key: YOUR_KEY" https://api.mondonomo.ai/api/v1/name-graph/carolynThe payload this page is built from: spellings and scripts, countries and languages, related names, and the registers that attest the form. It takes a free API key (1,000 requests a day), which returns what this page shows everyone; the full country table, every register citation and the year-by-year series come with a licensed key, as does bulk access.
About this data
measured from records inferred from the name graph machine-generated
These figures come from the data snapshot of and will change as it is rebuilt.
Statistics are aggregated from the Mondonomo name corpus; related names and etymology are inferred from the name graph; pronunciation and any machine-marked transliterations are model-generated. Read how the numbers are made, including their known failure modes, and where the data comes from.
Reference works we consult — surname dictionaries, official name registers, Wikidata and Wiktionary — are named directly, beside the claims they support. The per-country source counts also include datasets of person records: we publish how many there are and their authority tier, but not their names.
Cite this page Mondonomo, “Carolyn” — the 106th most common given name in United States. Data snapshot 2026-10-10.