Carroll

Where Carroll comes from

The dictionaries list Carroll as a given name — a unisex given name — but don't trace where it came from. The record below is what the SSA data shows.

  • Germanic
  • 2 syllables
Along the way
  1. 1880
    First SSA year
    Already #334 among boys — 26 babies in the first year on record.
  2. 1923
    Carroll Shelby born
    American automotive designer, racing driver, and entrepreneur
  3. 1931
    Carroll Baker born
    American actress
  4. 1934
    Peak, #164
    874 babies named Carroll — more than any year before or since.
  5. 1953
    The fade
    The first year with half the peak's births — down to #337.
  6. 2023
    Mostly boys from here
    Until now more girls than boys got the name; from this year it's the other way round, and has stayed that way.
In the dictionary
  • A unisex given name
  • A male given name transferred from the surname.
  • A female given name from the Germanic languages, of less common usage, variant of Carol.
Namesakes
  • Carroll Baker · American actress, born 1931
  • Carroll Shelby · American automotive designer, racing driver, and entrepreneur, 1923–2012
  • Carroll O'Connor · American actor, 1924–2001

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.