Carlos

What Carlos means

Spanish and Portuguese form of Charles, meaning “free man”

a male given name, equivalent to English Charles || From French Charles, from Old French Charles, Carles, from Latin Carolus, from and also reinfluenced by Frankish and Old High German Karl, from Proto-Germanic *karilaz (“free man”); compare the English word churl and the German Kerl.

Source: Wiktionary, “Carlos” (revision 94535328) and “Charles” (revision 94594314), CC BY-SA 4.0. Quoted from the etymology; we don’t write our own.

How popular is Carlos?

US: Falling: down from #118 in 2015. England & Wales: Falling: down from #753 in 2015.

Biggest US share so far: 2001, when 6,842 boys got the name (#59 that year). First in the US records in 1880.

How common

• About 1 in 706 baby boys in the US in 2025
• About 1 in 9,712 baby boys in England and Wales in 2025

“1 in N” divides by all listed births for that sex. The US list leaves out names given to fewer than 5 babies, and the UK lists leave out names given to 2 or fewer, so the real figure is a little rarer than shown.

Where in the US

Most popular in WY (4.59 per 1,000 boys), AZ (3.97 per 1,000 boys), TX (3.06 per 1,000 boys) in 2025.

SSA state data, 2025. Share of all listed boys born in each state.

US vs UK

Carlos is #150 in the US and #1066 in England & Wales (2025).

Same sex as this page (boys). SSA (US), ONS (England and Wales), NRS (Scotland).

Boy or girl?

In 2025, 99.9+% of US babies named Carlos were boys.

Counts below the publishing threshold (US 5, UK 3) are not included.

How to say it

IPA from Wiktionary.

Other spellings parents chose in 2025

• Karlos21 US

Names that sound the same and differ by a letter or two, with baby counts for the same sex. US and E&W counts.

If you like Carlos

Boys

• Luis#144Same root as Louis, meaning “loud; famous + battle”^*
• Juan#159Spanish, meaning “Yahweh is gracious”^*
• Jesus#173Editor’s note Peaked in the US in 2004, with 6,472 babies; 2,078 in 2025
• Jorge#322Same root as George, meaning “farmer, earth worker”^*
• Marcos#516Editor’s note Down from #408 in 2015 to #516 in 2025 in the US
• Fernando#387Editor’s note Peaked in the US in 2006, with 2,758 babies; 819 in 2025

For a sister

• Karla#799Editor’s note Peaked in the US in 1964, with 2,060 babies; 340 in 2025
• Angel#546Editor’s note Peaked in the US in 2002, with 3,100 babies; 551 in 2025
• Abby#731Diminutive of Abigail, meaning “my Father's joy”^*
• Alyssa#453“a plant of the genus Alyssum”^*
• Anna#107Editor’s note Cooling off in the US: #44 in 2015, #107 in 2025
• Emily#34“rival, emulator”^*

Picked from the US top 1,000 in 2025: names Wiktionary also files under Germanic, Latin, Spanish & Italian, whose US popularity since 1990 rose and fell most like Carlos’s. Rank is US 2025.