Name meaning & stats
Carly
Carly means “free man” (Germanic origin). 66,626 US babies since 1940, peak 1995.
What it means
“free man”
GermanicFeminine form of Carl
In US birth records
Peak year: 1995
66,626 US babies were named Carly between 1940 and 2025.
Careers
Not enough notable people named Carly (or its spelling family) to say anything reliable yet. That's a gap in the data, not the name.
Spelling family
The most common spelling: 43% of the family
Names that sound the same, grouped by Heyotag. Share of US babies since 1940.
Name twins (peaked around 1995)