Carlee is a spelling variant of Carly, the feminine pet form of Carl that goes back to the Germanic karl and means "free man" or "free woman". Singer Carly Simon gave the name its first wave of popularity, and the -ee spellings followed in the 1990s. Carlee ranked number 628 in 2000, peaked at number 614 in 2005 and has since dropped out of the top 1000 to number 1911 in 2025.