Karlee
- Pronunciation
- [Kar-lee]
- Gender
- Female
- Meaning
- Womanly: Strength. Feminine Of Karl.
- Origin
- German
About the Name Karlee
Karlee is a modern feminine form of Karl, the German name meaning "free man" and long associated with strength — hence the gloss "womanly strength." The fashionable double-E ending gives this Germanic root a soft, contemporary American finish, placing Karlee within the large and creative family of Carly and Carlie names that flourished around the turn of the millennium.
For American girls, Karlee entered the US Social Security top-1000 in 2000 and held a place through 2019, accumulating 8,236 births over that long span. It reached its peak in 2004 at rank #583, then gradually eased over the following years — recorded at #822 in 2017, #932 in 2018, and #972 in 2019 before slipping from the list. Its extended run reflects the broad and durable popularity of these breezy, -lee ending names for girls through the 2000s and 2010s.
Karlee's appeal lies in its blend of a strong, classic root and a sweet, modern sound. Recorded variants include Carleigh, Carley, Carlie, Karleigh, Karley, Karli, Karlie, and Karly — a remarkable range of spellings that captures just how thoroughly beloved this cheerful, friendly sound became among American parents. Sweet yet grounded in a strong classic root, Karlee captures the bright, breezy spirit of its era, offering parents a feminine name that feels both spirited and quietly strong.
Source: U.S. Social Security Administration name data, 1880–2024 (methodology). By Marvin Tang.
Quick Facts About Karlee
US Popularity History (2000–2019)
Annual US births named Karlee by gender, from US Social Security Administration records. Peak year: 2008 with 511 girls named Karlee (girl rank #602 that year).
Where it stands today: in 2019, ranked #972 for girls (268 US births). That's 370 places below its 2008 peak.
Source: US Social Security Administration. Limitations: US birth-certificate data only; names appearing fewer than 5 times in a given year are suppressed for privacy; spelling variants are counted separately. For names that ranked outside the US top 100 before year 2000, only the years they reached the top 100 are shown — the chart may have gaps for less-popular historical names.
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Where in the US Is Karlee Most Popular?
Average girl-name rank within each state across 2016–2025 SSA records. A lower number means the name appears closer to the top of that state's girls-name rankings — a per-capita measure that isn't biased toward large states. For Karlee the strongest states are Mississippi, Kentucky, Arkansas.
Strongest girls-name states
| # | State | Avg rank | Births |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mississippi | #400 | 71 |
| 2 | Kentucky | #442 | 81 |
| 3 | Arkansas | #490 | 38 |
| 4 | Louisiana | #513 | 85 |
| 5 | Iowa | #581 | 17 |
| 6 | Alabama | #594 | 81 |
| 7 | Oklahoma | #628 | 34 |
| 8 | Indiana | #659 | 52 |
| 9 | Ohio | #667 | 98 |
| 10 | South Carolina | #669 | 40 |
Weakest girls-name states
| # | State | Avg rank | Births |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Florida | #1,122 | 93 |
| 2 | Texas | #1,090 | 142 |
| 3 | Maryland | #928 | 22 |
| 4 | Illinois | #918 | 44 |
| 5 | Michigan | #894 | 47 |
| 6 | Pennsylvania | #790 | 49 |
| 7 | North Carolina | #767 | 49 |
| 8 | Missouri | #711 | 71 |
| 9 | Tennessee | #673 | 94 |
| 10 | South Carolina | #669 | 40 |
Source: SSA state-level baby-name dataset 2016–2025. States with fewer than 3 years of data for Karlee in this window are excluded. Births < 5 in a given state-year are suppressed by SSA for privacy.
Variant Forms
| Name | Meaning | Gender | Origin |
|---|---|---|---|
| Carleigh | Freeholder (Dignity For Life) | Female | German |
| Carley | "A Free Person. A Feminine Form Of Charles, Also See Carla, Carol And Caroline." | Female | English |
| Carlie | "Variant Of Karlee, Karlie." | Female | English |
| Karleigh | Womanly: Strength. Feminine Of Karl. | Female | German |
| Karley | Womanly: Strength. Feminine Of Karl. | Female | German |
| Karli | Covered With Snow | Female | Turkish |
| Karlie | Womanly: Strength. Feminine Of Karl. | Female | German |
| Karly | Womanly: Strength. Feminine Of Karl. | Female | German |
Looking for names like Karlee?
A dedicated page with 60+ related names — spelling variants, rhymes, alliterations, same-origin matches, and shared meaning concepts — lives at its own URL so each kind of similarity gets a deeper treatment than fits here.
Compare Karlee to Other Popular Names
Side-by-side popularity charts and crossover years for Karlee against today's most popular girls-name peers (top 8 by US births in the last 10 years of SSA records).