Carey

Where Carey comes from

* As a German surname, Americanized from Gehrig, Gehring. * As a Welsh surname, variant of Carew. * As an English surname, from placenames derived from Proto-Brythonic *karɨd (“to love”). * As an Irish surname, from mac Fhiachra (“descendant of Fiachra”), from préachán (“crow”). * Also as an Irish surname, from the root of the name Kerry.
— Wiktionary's entry for Carey
  • 2 syllables
  • Vowel-ended
Carey through the years
  1. 1880
    First SSA year
    Already #505 among boys, with 13 babies in the first year on record.
  2. 1957
    Peak, #353
    461 babies named Carey, the most in any year.
  3. 1961
    Carey Lowell born
    American actress
  4. 1978
    The fade
    The first year with half the peak's births, down to #559.
  5. 1985
    Carey Mulligan born
    British actress
  6. 2022
    Mostly boys from here
    Until now more girls than boys got the name. From this year on, more boys have.
In the dictionary
  • A placename:
  • A place in the United States, including:
  • An unincorporated community in Childress County, Texas.
  • A unisex given name.
  • A male given name transferred from the surname.
  • A female given name, variant of Cary.
Namesakes
  • Carey Mulligan · British actress, born 1985
  • Carey Lowell · American actress, born 1961
  • Carey Price · Canadian ice hockey goaltender, born 1987
  • Carey Bell · American blues musician, 1936–2007
  • Carey McLeod · Jamaican athlete, born 1998

Sources: the origin note and dictionary entry are quoted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0); the namesakes come from Wikidata (CC0); the milestones are worked out from the SSA record.