Entry № 1784 · French origin

Caroline Caroline — Meaning, Origin & Baby Name Popularity

/ KARE-uh-line /
Gender
Girl
Origin
French
Meaning
"Free, free woman"
Syllables
3
First recorded
Medieval

A name that means "free, free woman".

Caroline is the feminine of Charles — ultimately from the Old Germanic karl, meaning "free man" (in the sense of "not enslaved").

Caroline has been continuously in the U.S. top 200 for over a century. Queen Caroline of Ansbach (consort of George II) and Princess Caroline of Monaco are well-known bearers. Today it sits in the U.S. top 90.

Free. A queenly classic that has never gone out of style.

The name in its native script.

Caroline
Transliteration
Caroline
Pronunciation
/ ˈkær.ə.laɪn /
Root
Grammatical form

Where Caroline stands.

Caroline does not currently appear in the US Social Security Administration's top 1,000 girls' names, so we don't publish a US rank or birth count for it. That says nothing about the name's standing elsewhere in the world — only that it sits outside the ranked US data we rely on.

Carolines before her.

Real people
Caroline Kennedy
American author, lawyer, and diplomat. Daughter of John F. Kennedy.
born 1957
Caroline of Brunswick
Queen consort of King George IV of the United Kingdom.
1768 – 1821
In fiction
Sweet Caroline
Neil Diamond's 1969 song.
1969 song

Names connected to Caroline.

The number behind Caroline.

5

The Seeker

In Pythagorean numerology the letters of Caroline reduce to 5, The Seeker. This is a traditional interpretive system, not a factual claim about the name.