Carlie is a spelling of Carly, the feminine pet form of Carl or Charles, from the Germanic karl, "free man", usually rendered "free woman" for a girl. Singer Carly Simon made the sound familiar in the 1970s, and the -ie spelling followed Carrie and Katie. Carlie ranked number 501 in 2000, its best year in the data, stayed close to the top 1000 until the mid-2010s and has since fallen to number 2657 in 2025 with 65 girls.