Carter

“Cart driver (English) or son of Arthur (Irish)” — English occupational or Irish patronymic origin

Boy's name · #45 in the US (2025) · 2010s

Its best rank, #24, came in 2015 — Carter has settled just below that height, at #45 in 2025, with roughly 207,000 boys since 1881. Together with its spelling variant Karter (#270), Carter would rank around #30 with about 7,300 births last year — the newborns split about 83/17 between Carter and Karter. A popular twin pairing with Carter is Cooper for a boy.

Around the world: #33 in New Zealand (2025) · #42 in Australia (QLD) (2025) · #68 in Canada (2024) · #70 in Australia (NSW) (2025) · #81 in Scotland (2025).

Appears in 2020-2025 birth records of 51 states. See the full state-by-state map on this page.

Famous Carters

Carter Burwell — American film composer (born 1954)
Carter Jenkins — American actor
Carter Glass — American politician (1858–1946)
Carter Braxton — American politician (1736-1797), signer of the Declaration of Independence
Carter Godwin Woodson — American historian, writer, and journalist (1875–1950)

In stories & tradition

Carter Pewterschmidt — Family Guy
Carter McKay — fictional human
Carter Kane — The Kane Chronicles

What Carters become

Among 249 notable people named Carter:

Sports figures appear 2.1× more often than among typical names — e.g. Carter Hart, Canadian ice hockey player.

Similar names: Karter · Jackson · Carson · Logan · Tucker · Ryder

Browse more boy names — popularity, trends and eras for 5,700+ American names, free.

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