Carlos

Spellings & scripts●

Locally spelled Carlo in PH Philippines, IT Italy, CR Costa Rica and 1 more, Charles in CU Cuba, GR Greece, PA Panama, Karlo in FR France, HR Croatia, GE Georgia and Karl in SE Sweden.

Spellings marked ● are how people bearing the name write it in our records; ○ marks a model's transliteration. Click a spelling to open its page.

Meaning & origin●

Attested across 12 languages in the etymology graph.

Languages●

Language is read off each record's context, not declared by the bearer; a share is of all records for this spelling.

Other names spelled this way◐

Carlos is also recorded as 5 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• English given name6.6M records spelled Carlos60 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Brazil, Venezuela, Guatemala

  Languages: English, German, Dutch

  Also written Cärlös, Carlo'S, Çarlos, Cárlos, Car-Los

• a separate given name785K records spelled Carlos3 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Ecuador, Spain, United Kingdom

  Also written Cárlos, Carlós

• Catalan given name278K records spelled Carlos2 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Spain, Andorra, Argentina

  Also written Cárlos

• Bangla given name122K records spelled Carlos11 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Spain, United States, Peru, Bolivia

  Languages: Bangla, Hindi, Urdu

  Also written Carlas, Cárlós, কার্লোস, Carloos, কারলোস

• Lao given name53K records spelled Carlos77 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Laos, United States, Thailand, Spain

  Languages: Lao, Thai

  Also written Carlo, Karlos, คาร์โล, Cärlös, คาลอส

108 further groups record this spelling and are not listed here.

Grouping is the name graph's, not a register's: two spellings join a group when the evidence links them, so a group is a claim about the records rather than about the people.

Other recorded senses●

Carlos is also recorded in 5 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.

• In Portuguese, a male given name, equivalent to English Charles, Carl, or Karl

  as a word·kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

• In Spanish, a male given name, equivalent to English Charles

  as a word·kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

• vigorous; from Trancoso/São Tomé/Belém/Brasil/Ciudad Rodrigo/Terceira/Azores/Portugal

  as a name·Dicionario Sefaradi De SobrenomesDictionary Of Sephardic Surnames Inclusive Cristaos-Novos, Conversos, Marranos, Italianos,…

• In Spanish, Germánico Karl, de un elemento antiguo ‘hombre, marido, amante’; también asociado a ‘hombre maduro’.

  as a name·Diccionario etimológico de nombres propios

• In Swedish, Carlos är en spansk form av → Karl.

  as a name·Förnamn i Sverige. Kortfattat namnlexikon

Ordered by how much of this spelling's record each language holds, so a sense from a language the name is barely used in sits last rather than first.

Over time●

US SSA — National Baby Names (1880–present) — 146 years between 1880–2025. One register's own figures, never a sum across registers: two registers counting the same people would double them.

Notable people with this name●

• Charles the Fatb. 839DEnot in their usual nameEmperor of the Carolingian Empire (839-888) (r. 881-887)
• Ferdinand Magellanb. 1480PTnot in their usual namePortuguese explorer in the service of Spain
• Karl VIb. 1685ATnot in their usual name18th century Habsburg Holy Roman Emperor
• Karl Adolph Gjellerupb. 1857DKnot in their usual nameDanish writer (1857–1919)
• Rudolf, Crown Prince of Austriab. 1858ATnot in their usual nameAustrian archduke (1858-1889)
• Karl Rennerb. 1870ATnot in their usual namefirst President of Austria (1870–1950)
• Manuel II of Portugalb. 1889PTnot in their usual nameKing of Portugal (1889–1932)
• Karl Alexander Müllerb. 1927CHnot in their usual nameSwiss physicist (1927–2023)
• Manuel Vallsb. 1962FRnot in their usual nameFrench and Spanish politician
• Charlie Sheenb. 1965USnot in their usual nameAmerican actor (born 1965)

The ten people covered by the most Wikipedia language editions — a proxy for cross-cultural notability, which favours historical and Western figures over equally prominent contemporary ones — shown by birth year. Source: Wikidata (CC0).

Evidence●

Register rows as of the 2026-09-12 data build · 1,610 rows in the corpus for this spelling.

Frequently asked questions

How common is the name Carlos?

We estimate roughly 3.8 million people bear Carlos (counting its spellings and scripts) across 12 countries in our records.

In which country does Carlos have the most bearers?

Carlos is most frequently recorded in Argentina, where it is most often spelled carlos.

How common is Carlos compared with other names?

In Argentina, Carlos is the 4th most common given name of 517,176 given names recorded there.

Is Carlos a male or female name?

Carlos is a male name in our records. Opposite-gender entries fall within the cross-gender noise we measure in the source data, so we don't report them as usage.

What does the name Carlos mean?

Recorded meaning: A male given name from Spanish or Portuguese, equivalent to English Charles.