Carly is a feminine form of Carl or Charles, from the Germanic karl, meaning "free man". Singer-songwriter Carly Simon made it familiar in the 1970s, and Carly Rae Jepsen gave it a new generation of fans. In the United States Carly ranked number 169 in 2000, its peak in this century; it has declined since, from number 389 in 2015 to number 1009 in 2025, just outside the top 1000.