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Carlissa vs Carlos

American parents have registered 309,076 Carloses since 1880, against 658 Carlissas. Carlos is still ahead, with 2,418 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Carlissa against Carlos, 1880 to 2025 0 2k 4k 6k 8k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Carlissa Carlos

Each line is every baby given the name that year, girls and boys added together — the only count that means the same thing for both names. A line breaks where the name fell below five babies in a year — the point at which the SSA stops publishing it — rather than being drawn through a figure nobody published. A single published year in a gap shows as a dot.

Who was ahead

Carlos has been the commoner name in every year either was published, 1880 to 2025. The lead has never changed hands.

The closest they came was 1966, when Carlissa had 13 and Carlos had 2,188.

Side by side

  Carlissa Carlos
Total US births 658309,076
Most in one year 276,864
Babies in 2025 under 52,418
Estimated living today 640274,000
Median age today 3430
Peak year 19892001
Best rank 3,673rd girls59th boys
Rank in 2025 unranked150th
First recorded 19591880
Girls / boys 658 / 02,040 / 307,036

A rank is a position within one sex’s list for one year, so the two rank rows are not subtracted from one another and the winning column is not marked on them. The living figure is a life-table estimate, not a count.

Which name is older

Half of the Carlissas alive today are over 34; half the Carloses are over 30. That is 4 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.

Compare something else

Related comparisons

Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Carlissa and Carlos.