Caroline
Meaning of Caroline
Caroline traces its lexical roots to the Latin Carolus—ultimately from the Germanic Karl, “free man”—and, in a small irony noted by etymologists, has spent centuries working full-time as a feminine staple. The name crossed the English Channel with the Stuarts, took up residence in British and American hymnals, and acquired a light dusting of royal gloss through figures such as Queen Caroline of Ansbach. Modern associations range from first daughter Caroline Kennedy to Neil Diamond’s ballpark anthem “Sweet Caroline,” giving the name an easy recognizability that marketers would envy. U.S. data confirm its resilience: after a quiet mid-century, Caroline climbed into the national top 100 around 2004, hovered near rank 55 through the late 2010s, and now resides in the low 90s—steady performance for something that, by definition, was supposed to be free.
Pronunciation
English
- Pronunced as KAIR-uh-lin (/'kerəlaɪn/)
U.S. Popularity Chart
States Popularity Chart
Notable People Named Caroline
| Caroline Kennedy is an American author, attorney, and diplomat, the only surviving child of President John F. Kennedy and Jacqueline Kennedy, who served as US ambassador to Japan from 2013 to 2017 and to Australia from 2022 to 2024. |
| Caroline Flack was an English television presenter who started as an actress and later hosted popular ITV2 spin offs of Im a Celebrity and The X Factor. |
| Caroline Lucretia Herschel was a pioneering German astronomer who discovered several comets, including one bearing her name, and worked closely with her brother William Herschel. |
| Caroline Polachek is an American singer, producer, and songwriter who cofounded Chairlift at the University of Colorado, rose from the late 2000s Brooklyn scene with the sleeper hit Bruises, and later released solo work as Ramona Lisa and as CEP including Arcadia and Drawing the Target Around the Arrow. |
| Caroline Nokes is a British Conservative politician serving as MP for Romsey and Southampton North since 2010. |
| Caroline Lacroix, born Blanche Zelia Josephine Delacroix, was the most notorious mistress of King Leopold II of Belgium. |
| Caroline Lavinia Harrison was an American music teacher and artist who served as First Lady from 1889 until her death, the wife of Benjamin Harrison and the second First Lady to die in office. |
| Caroline Flint is a British Labour politician who represented Don Valley from 1997 to 2019 and attended Cabinet as Housing and Planning minister in 2008 and as Minister for Europe from 2008 to 2009. |
| Caroline Schermerhorn Astor was the Gilded Age leader of New York high society known as the Mrs. Astor, wife of William Backhouse Astor Jr., and Astor family matriarch, mother of five including John Jacob Astor IV who died on the Titanic. |
| Caroline Aherne was an English actress, comedian, writer and director known for Mrs Merton, The Fast Show, and co-writing and starring in The Royle Family, earning BAFTA awards. |
| Caroline A. Soule was an American author and Universalist minister who in 1880 became the first woman ordained in the United Kingdom, served as first president and cofounder of the Woman's Centenary Aid Association, and in 1878 was the first Universalist Church of America missionary to Scotland. |
| Caroline Carleton was an English born South Australian poet best known for Song of Australia, set to music by Carl Linger and later used as a patriotic school song and a 1977 national song candidate. |
| Caroline Quentin is an English actress and TV presenter best known for Men Behaving Badly, Jonathan Creek, Kiss Me Kate, and Blue Murder. |
| Caroline Julia Dinenage is a British politician who has been the MP for Gosport since 2010. |
