Carole

Spellings & scripts●

Locally spelled Carol in US United States, GB United Kingdom, AU Australia and 20 more, קרול in FR France, IL Israel and Karol in LA Laos.

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 14 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◐

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

• French given name865K records spelled Carole8 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in France, United States, Canada, Spain

  Languages: French, Spanish, Portuguese

  Also written Carolé

• a separate given name54K records spelled Carole2 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Italy

  Also written Carolé

• Italian given name5.6K records spelled Carole2 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Canada, United Kingdom, San Marino

  Also written Carõle

• Greek given name2.3K records spelled Carole6 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Greece, United States, United Kingdom, Canada

  Also written Carol, Carroll, Karol, Κάρολ, Καρολ

• Croatian given name1.2K records spelled Carole8 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Bulgaria

  Languages: Croatian, Bulgarian, Serbian

  Also written Цароле

61 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●

Carole is also recorded in 4 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.

• In French, Feminine form of Charles, from Germanic karl, 'free man'.

  as a name·Le grand guide des prénoms (Enfant - Education)

• In French, Féminin de Charles, du germanique Karl « homme libre ».

  as a name·Dictionnaire généalogique des prénoms

• French form of CAROL , formerly quite commonly used in the English-speaking world in order to make it clear that a female name was in question. Now that Carol is used almost exclusively for girls, Carole has become slightly less common.

  as a word

• In enm, carol (round dance accompanied by singing)

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

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) — 115 years between 1901–2025. One register's own figures, never a sum across registers: two registers counting the same people would double them.

Notable people with this name●

• Carole Lombardb. 1908USAmerican actress (1908-1942)
• Carole Landisb. 1919USAmerican actress (1919–1948)
• Carole Eastmanb. 1934USAmerican screenwriter (1934-2004)
• Carole Shelleyb. 1939GBBritish actress (1939-2018)
• Penny Marshallb. 1943USnot in their usual nameAmerican actress, director and producer (1943–2018)
• Carole Laureb. 1948CACanadian actress and singer
• Carole Middletonb. 1955GBBritish businesswoman; mother of Catherine, Princess of Wales
• Carole Bouquetb. 1957FRFrench actress (b. 1957)
• Carole Delgab. 1971FRFrench politician of the Socialist Party
• Carole FranckFRFrench actress

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 · 621 rows in the corpus for this spelling.

Frequently asked questions

How common is the name Carole?

We estimate roughly 1.1 million people bear Carole (counting its spellings and scripts) across 13 countries in our records.

In which country does Carole have the most bearers?

Carole is most frequently recorded in the United Kingdom, where it is most often spelled carol.

Where is Carole most common?

Measured as a share of residents rather than as a count, Carole is densest in Sweden — about 1 in 51 people — even though United Kingdom holds more of our records for it.

How common is Carole compared with other names?

In the United Kingdom, Carole is the 46th most common given name of 369,273 given names recorded there.

Is Carole a male or female name?

Carole is recorded for both men and women. We don't publish a percentage split: a record's gender belongs to the person and is attached to every given name on that record, so names in cultures where a name string also carries a parent's or spouse's given name pick up large cross-gender counts.

What does the name Carole mean?

Recorded meaning: Feminine form of Charles; from Germanic *karl* ‘man, virile’.