Carol

Where Carol comes from

Shortened from Caroline. Associated by folk etymology with the English noun carol.
— Wiktionary's entry for Carol
  • Germanic
  • 2 syllables
Along the way
  1. 1839
    Carol I of Romania born
    king of Romania from 1881 to 1914
  2. 1880
    First SSA year
    Already #679 among girls — 7 babies in the first year on record.
  3. 1933
    Carol Burnett born
    American actress, comedian and singer
  4. 1941
    Peak, #4
    24,187 babies named Carol — more than any year before or since.
  5. 1965
    The fade
    The first year with half the peak's births — down to #42.
In the dictionary
  • A female given name from the Germanic languages, popular in the middle of the 20th century.
  • A male given name from the Germanic languages.
Namesakes
  • Carol I of Romania · king of Romania from 1881 to 1914, 1839–1914
  • Carol Burnett · American actress, comedian and singer, born 1933
  • Carol II of Romania · king of Romania from 1930 to 1940, 1893–1953
  • Carol Channing · American actress, 1921–2019
  • Carol Reed · English film director, 1906–1976

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.