Karlee is a spelling variant of Carly, a feminine pet form of Carl or Charles that goes back to the Germanic karl and means "free man" or, by extension, "free woman". The K spelling with -ee peaked when Carly Simon's generation of names was being reinvented for a new century. Karlee ranked number 608 in 2000, peaked at number 583 in 2004 and has since slid to number 1898 in 2025.