# Cary (first name)

Source: https://namelineage.com/first-name/cary/  
Publisher: Name Lineage. US counts from the Social Security Administration; England and Wales counts from the Office for National Statistics; meaning and etymology from Wiktionary. Data updated 2026-11-11.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Usually given to | boys and girls |
| Origin | not recorded |
| Meaning | not recorded |
| Pronunciation | not recorded |
| Nicknames | none recorded |
| Variant spellings | Carey |
| US babies named this | 29,827 since 1880 |
| Boys / girls in the US | 24,504 / 5,323 (18% girls) |
| Babies in England and Wales | 54, 1996 to 2025 |

## Popularity

The last 15 years of each series. A year is missing when too few babies were given the name for the agency to publish it: five in the US, three in England and Wales.

### United States, girls

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2001 | 13 | 7,817 |
| 2002 | 8 | 11,321 |
| 2004 | 11 | 9,374 |
| 2005 | 14 | 7,981 |
| 2007 | 8 | 12,906 |
| 2008 | 7 | 14,125 |
| 2009 | 7 | 13,982 |
| 2010 | 7 | 13,750 |
| 2011 | 9 | 11,364 |
| 2012 | 5 | 17,401 |
| 2013 | 6 | 14,983 |
| 2014 | 7 | 13,347 |
| 2017 | 5 | 16,360 |
| 2018 | 5 | 16,167 |
| 2024 | 5 | 15,738 |

### United States, boys

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 29 | 3,617 |
| 2012 | 28 | 3,730 |
| 2013 | 22 | 4,349 |
| 2014 | 21 | 4,562 |
| 2015 | 32 | 3,443 |
| 2016 | 35 | 3,241 |
| 2017 | 31 | 3,527 |
| 2018 | 22 | 4,501 |
| 2019 | 41 | 2,950 |
| 2020 | 26 | 3,940 |
| 2021 | 27 | 3,931 |
| 2022 | 37 | 3,223 |
| 2023 | 23 | 4,479 |
| 2024 | 32 | 3,533 |
| 2025 | 30 | 3,676 |

### England and Wales, girls

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2001 | 3 | 3,998 |

### England and Wales, boys

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 1996 | 6 | 1,765 |
| 1997 | 4 | 2,337 |
| 1999 | 4 | 2,425 |
| 2000 | 4 | 2,501 |
| 2015 | 3 | 4,747 |
| 2016 | 4 | 4,023 |
| 2017 | 5 | 3,449 |
| 2018 | 6 | 3,011 |
| 2019 | 3 | 4,702 |
| 2022 | 3 | 4,789 |
| 2024 | 6 | 3,254 |
| 2025 | 3 | 5,137 |

## People named Cary

- Cary Grant, British-American actor (1904–1986)
- Cary Elwes, British actor (born 1962)
- Cary Joji Fukunaga, American filmmaker
- Cary Middlecoff, American professional golfer (1921–1998)
- Cary Stayner, American serial killer
- Cary Guffey, child actor
- Edward C. Walthall, Confederate Army general (1831-1898)
- Conn Smythe, Canadian sports executive (1895–1980)

## How to read these numbers

A count is babies registered with that name in that year, not people alive now, so a name common a century ago can have a large total and few recent births.