FastNamesCarter
English and Celtic name meaning "Occupational surname derived from Anglo-Norman French cartier (from Old French charetier, ultimately of Celtic origin), denoting a driver or maker of two-wheeled cargo carts.". Ranked 45th for boys in 2025.
Meaning and origin of Carter
Occupational surname derived from Anglo-Norman French cartier (from Old French charetier, ultimately of Celtic origin), denoting a driver or maker of two-wheeled cargo carts.
Linguistically, Carter is classified under English and Celtic naming traditions. It is typically pronounced "KAHR-tər".
Popularity and ranking
In official US Social Security birth records from 1880 through 2025, Carter has been given to a total of 206,833 boys. It has also been given to 10,038 girls.
Peak year: Carter reached its highest relative share among boys in 2015, when 10,814 babies received the name (5,642 per million births).
All-time best rank: 24th place, first achieved in 2015.
Recent standing (2025): Ranked 45th with 6,024 births. Ten years earlier in 2015, it ranked 24th (down 21 spots).
Busiest decade: More boys were named Carter in the 2010s than in any other decade (95,261 births).
| Decade | Recorded births |
|---|---|
| 1880s | 100 |
| 1890s | 134 |
| 1900s | 199 |
| 1910s | 680 |
| 1920s | 881 |
| 1930s | 863 |
| 1940s | 1,340 |
| 1950s | 1,612 |
| 1960s | 1,345 |
| 1970s | 1,359 |
| 1980s | 1,680 |
| 1990s | 9,725 |
| 2000s | 52,320 |
| 2010s | 95,261 |
| 2020s | 39,334 |
Source: Social Security Administration, national baby name data, data through 2025. Names given to fewer than five babies of one sex in a year aren't published, so totals are a little lower than actual births.
Where Carter is most common in the US
Accounting for when Carter was in fashion nationally, it has been most heavily concentrated in the following states (measured against the expected rate from each state's births):
- Vermont: 2.4 times the national rate (526 births since 1910).
- South Dakota: 2.4 times the national rate (1,187 births since 1910).
- North Dakota: 2.3 times the national rate (1,056 births since 1910).
- Wyoming: 2.1 times the national rate (456 births since 1910).
- Iowa: 2.1 times the national rate (3,961 births since 1910).
Source: Social Security Administration, baby names by state, data through 2025. Names given to fewer than five babies of one sex in a state in a year aren't published, so totals are a little lower than actual births.
How many people have the name Carter?
About 200,000 living American boys and men share the name Carter. Additionally, an estimated 9,900 living American girls and women share the name.
The median age of an American named Carter is 13 years old.
Estimated from Social Security Administration records (1880–2025) and official SSA cohort mortality tables.
History of the name Carter
Carter originated as an Anglo-Norman occupational surname designating a driver, builder, or operator of carts (derived from Anglo-Norman French cartier, an adaptation of Old French charetier, rooted in Late Latin carrum, a Celtic loanword designating a two-wheeled wheeled vehicle). In medieval feudal economies, carters played an indispensable logistical role hauling grain, timber, building stone, wool, and market goods between agricultural estates, river ports, and market boroughs.
Documentary occurrences appear in early medieval tax rolls, such as Jocius le Cartere in the Pipe Rolls of Cambridgeshire in 1192. Carter flourished extensively as an English hereditary surname before gaining early transatlantic prominence in colonial Virginia with the wealthy planter dynasty of Robert 'King' Carter of Corotoman. Over the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, Carter transitioned into a given name in American Southern naming tradition, honoring family matriarchs and ancestral maternal surnames.
In American given name frequency, Carter began a meteoric ascent in the late 1990s and early 2000s, crossing into the national top one hundred in 2004 and climbing into the top thirty by 2014 with over 10,000 newborn boys per year. Modern parents embrace Carter for its approachable occupational warmth, crisp consonant ending, and seamless blend of presidential dignity with contemporary casual appeal.
Notable people named Carter
- Jimmy Carter (1924–), 39th U.S. President and Nobel Peace Prize laureate
- Carter G. Woodson (1875–1950), American historian, author, and founder of Black History Month
- Vince Carter (1977–), American NBA basketball Hall of Famer and Olympic gold medalist
- Carter Burwell (1954–), American film composer known for collaborations with the Coen brothers
Variants and related names
Spelling variants
Diminutives and nicknames
Related names
Sources and references
- P. H. Reaney, R. M. Wilson. A Dictionary of English Surnames (1997), p. 86.
- Patrick Hanks, Kate Hardcastle, Flavia Hodges. A Dictionary of First Names (2006), p. 48.