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Carlos vs Carmaletta

American parents have registered 309,076 Carloses since 1880, against 17 Carmalettas. Carlos is still ahead, with 2,418 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

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

Carlos Carmaletta

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 1932, when Carlos had 534 and Carmaletta had 7.

Side by side

  Carlos Carmaletta
Total US births 309,07617
Most in one year 6,8647
Babies in 2025 2,418under 5
Estimated living today 274,0007
Median age today 3069
Peak year 20011932
Best rank 59th boys3,568th girls
Rank in 2025 150thunranked
First recorded 18801932
Girls / boys 2,040 / 307,03617 / 0

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 Carmalettas alive today are over 69; half the Carloses are over 30. That is 39 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: Carlos and Carmaletta.