girl's name
Carrie
KAIR-ee
- Origin English
- Gender Girl
- Syllables 2
- Letters 6
- Popularity Uncommon
- Births on record 271,681
Northern Ireland
#447
2020 births
Carrie is a girl's name, a pet form of Caroline meaning free man through Charles. It peaked in 1977 and charts in two markets, having fallen to 2731st in the United States on 63 births.
- Carrie is a name of English origin.
- Peaked in 1977, when 8,688 babies were given the name.
- It has been falling over the past decade.
- Today about 1 in 52,626 babies in the United States is given this name.
- 2 syllables, with the stress on syllable 1.
Carrie over time
Births per decade in the United States, 1880s to 2020s. The striped bar is the 2020s, still in progress — it covers 2020 to 2025, not a full ten years.
Show the numbers
| Decade | Births |
|---|---|
| 1880s | 12,563 |
| 1890s | 14,343 |
| 1900s | 13,206 |
| 1910s | 18,184 |
| 1920s | 19,279 |
| 1930s | 12,665 |
| 1940s | 11,049 |
| 1950s | 16,254 |
| 1960s | 31,249 |
| 1970s | 67,042 |
| 1980s | 36,234 |
| 1990s | 10,315 |
| 2000s | 3,323 |
| 2010s | 1,421 |
| 2020s (to 2025) | 413 |
What Carrie means
Carrie means free man, inherited from Charles by way of Caroline. The Germanic word named a free peasant specifically, a man who belonged to no lord.
Where Carrie comes from
Carrie is clipped from Caroline or Carolyn, the feminines of Charles, from the Germanic karl — a free man of the ordinary class rather than a nobleman. The same word rose into Charlemagne, Carl the great, and sank into the English churl, meaning a boor, which is an unusually wide split for a single root. Carrie was a standard nineteenth-century American pet form, and its literary weight comes from two very different books: Theodore Dreiser's Sister Carrie in 1900, banned by its own publisher for immorality, and Stephen King's Carrie in 1974.
Carrie in use
Carrie peaked in the United States in 1977, when 8,688 babies were registered, and is falling in our data. It now charts in two of the seven markets we track — 2510th in England and Wales on 11 births and 2731st in the United States on 63 — across 271,681 lifetime births. Carolyn, from the same source and written up separately, charts in only one market, so the pet form has slightly the wider reach of the two.
How popular is Carrie?
In 2025, Carrie was given to 63 babies in the United States. It is used consistently but remains uncommon.
Where Carrie is used
US figures omit any name given to fewer than five babies in a year, so the rarest names are absent from the source rather than absent from use. Data & sources.
Names that peaked alongside Carrie
These names rose and fell in the same era, which is why they tend to sound like they belong together.
Parents who like Carrie also like
Names whose popularity has risen and fallen in step with Carrie over the last century — the same taste, a different name.
Carrie in other languages
The same name as it is spelled elsewhere — not shortenings, and not different names that merely sound alike. Each one has its own record here.
Sibling names for Carrie
Names from the same era that won't rhyme or share an initial with Carrie — the two things that make a sibling set grate.
Common questions about Carrie
What does the name Carrie mean?
Free man, inherited from Charles through Caroline.
Is Carrie short for Caroline?
Yes, or for Carolyn — both are feminines of Charles.
Is Carrie related to churl?
Through the same Germanic root, yes — which also gave Charlemagne. The word went both up and down.
How popular is Carrie?
2731st in the United States, down from a 1977 peak of 8,688 births.
Is Carrie a girl's or a boy's name?
Carrie is given almost entirely to girls in birth records.
How many syllables are in Carrie?
Carrie has 2 syllables.
Is Carrie a good name?
That is not something records can settle, but they can tell you what you would be choosing. Carrie currently ranks #2,510 in the United States. It has been falling over the past decade. Everything else — how it sounds with your surname, who it reminds you of — is yours.