Baby Name Caroline: Crisp Classic

The baby name Caroline combines classic style with a fresh, crisp sound.

Our Baby Name of the Day goes out to my darling daughter.

CLASSIC CAROLINE

The baby name Caroline has ranked in the US Top 1000 in every year since the data was first published for 1880.

But it hasn’t always been a wildly popular pick.

In the 1950s, Caroline was eclipsed by Carolyn – a spelling that reached the US Top Ten in the 1940s. During the middle of the twentieth century, just Carol was the powerhouse, regularly charting in the US Top Ten.

The Germanic Karl is the starting point for all of these. It means simply man; Caroline is the feminine form, and so it’s sometimes said to mean womanly.

Karl’s descendants are many. Charles and Charlotte top popularity charts in the US, but Carlos, Carly, Karla, and many other variations share the same family tree.

PRINCESS CAROLINE

Princess Caroline might make you think of the Grimaldis, the royal house of Monaco. Caroline is the eldest daughter of the late Grace Kelly and Prince Rainier III, a position that ensured her life has been lived in the headlines.

But an earlier royal brought the name Caroline to England.

While it sounds perfectly English, it would’ve been rare until the seventeenth century. It’s actually the French feminine form

Born in 1683, Wilhelmina Charlotte Caroline of Brandenberg-Ansbach married King George II of Great Britain. She’d turned down several potential matches before agreeing to become George’s queen. She proved influential in her new country, too, supporting writers, artists, and intellectuals.

The royal couple passed her name on to a daughter, and well-born Carolines have been around ever since. A second German-born Caroline was queen consort to King George IV of the United Kingdom in the early nineteenth century.

CAROLINE KENNEDY

In more recent history, Caroline Bouvier Kennedy is from the famous presidential family. She’s the daughter of Jackie and JFK, immortalized as a young girl at her 1963 father’s funeral.

Kennedy was named for her maternal aunt, Caroline Lee Radziwill.

SWEET CAROLINE

It’s said that a photo of a young Caroline Kennedy inspired Neil Diamond to write “Sweet Caroline.”

The story has changed over the years, the SongFacts sums it up like this: the songwriter borrowed the name Caroline from the Kennedy daughter … though the song is really about his ex-wife, Marcia.

While Diamond recorded hit after hit over his long career, few rival 1969’s “Sweet Caroline” as enduring anthems. It’s played at sporting events, on movie soundtracks, at parties. Sing out the chorus nearly anywhere in the world, and odds are someone will respond with “Woah-ho-ho.”

FAMOUS FIGURES

Other notable Carolines over the years include:

• Lady Caroline Lamb, remembered for her scandalous affair with Lord Byron.
• First Lady Caroline Harrison, the wife of 23rd US President Benjamin Harrison.
• Feminist writer and reformer Caroline Healey Dall.
• Ma Ingalls on Little House on the Prairie was a Caroline
• The author of the Nancy Drew series was called Carolyn Keene – though that was just a catch-all for a group of ghostwriters.
• Lea Thompson played a single cartoonist in Caroline in the City, which ran as part of the Must See TV block on NBC in the 1990s.

But the Caroline in New York City who really made an impact was Sarah Jessica Parker’s Carrie Bradshaw.

CARRIE

Speaking of Carrie, Plenty of modern Carries aren’t Carolines at all.

That’s true for singer Carrie Underwood and actor Carrie Fisher. Stephen King’s Carrie was born Carrietta.

While Carrie seems like the automatic and obvious short form, Caroline could also became Cara or Caro, Lina, or even Rory.

BY THE NUMBERS

During the 1950s, the baby name Caroline briefly fell into the 300s. Most years, though, it hovered in the upper 100s or 200s. Like plenty of classic names, it felt timeless and familiar, but wasn’t particularly stylish.

In 1972 – just a few years after Neil Diamond recorded his hit song – the baby name Caroline ranked just #251 in the US.

Things started to change in the late 1970s, but it would take decades for the name to inch back up the charts. The baby name Caroline returned to the US Top 100 in 1994.

While Caroline in the City wasn’t a major hit during its 1995 to 1999 run, it shared a line-up with shows like ER and Seinfeld – guaranteeing that even if you didn’t watch the show, you probably knew all about it. It may be of the reasons the baby name Caroline marched up the popularity charts during the 1990s.

CAROLINE versus CHARLOTTE

The 1998 debut of Sex and the City might’ve helped, too, with Carrie Bradshaw reminding parents of the name.

But that other feminine form of Charles, one with regal roots and a sophisticated sound, became the sensation. While Caroline danced around the Top 100, rising and falling, Charlotte scaled the heights until it reached the Top Ten.

While Caroline and Charlotte sound different enough that they might even be names for sisters, they’re really two sides of the same coin.

CRISP CLASSIC

Some might say that the baby name Caroline rests in Charlotte’s shadow. But perhaps it’s better to think of Caroline as the slightly under-the-radar alternative, a name very bit as classic, but not quite as frequently repeated.

If you’re after a crisp and traditional choice for a daughter, one that feels as storied as Elizabeth, but not quite as common, Caroline could be exactly the name you’re after.

What do you think of the baby name Caroline?

Originally published on October 1, 2010, this post was revised substantially and re-posted on and June 22, 2021.