Carol on BabyNamer: Baby Names and Meanings

Carol

Meaning: Its source is ceorl, an Ancient Germanic name meaning "Freeholder."

Origin: "ceorl."

Languages: This girl's name is used in Dutch and English.

Nickname For: Carolyn

Nicknames: Carrie

Compound Forms: Carolann and Carolyn

Alternative Spellings: Carel, Carole, Caroll, Carrol, Carroll, Caryl, Karol, Karole, Karyl and Caryle

Variant Forms: Carely, Cariel, Carilis, Carla, Carola, Carolee, Caroline, Charlene and Charlotte

Non-English Forms: Karoliina

Popularity: The name Carol ranked 854th in popularity for females of all ages in a sample of 2000-2003 Social Security Administration statistics and 18th in popularity for females of all ages in a sample of the 1990 US Census.

This name first made its appearance on state popularity lists before 1993, but is becoming less commonly used. In some cases, it has fallen off the lists altogether.

Narrative: Of all the feminine forms of Carl (and its equivalent Charles), the oldest is probably Carolina, which developed in Latin as a feminine form of Carolinus, itself an elaboration of Carolus.

Carolus Magnus was the Latin name of the first Holy Roman Emperor, a Germanic leader known in the English-speaking world as Charlemagne (French for ''Charles the Great''). He was crowned emperor in 800 A.D., after uniting much of central Europe and building a relatively stable society out of the chaos that followed the fall of Rome.

Charlemagne's widespread fame gave rise to many forms of his name in many languages. Each male form suggested a female equivalent, which in turn changed and developed, so that we see Carolina changed to Caroline, shortened to Carol, and so on.