Meaning of the nameCarlos

Carlos is a masculine name of Germanic origin, from Latin Carolus and the name Karl, which Behind the Name relates to a word for 'man'.

Meaning

“man”

Source: Behind the Name: Charles

People (2022): 1,474,492
Rank in Brazil: #8
Median age: 39 years
2010 Census: 1,489,191; people

Carlos in the 2022 Census

People with the first name Carlos, by the decade they were born. In the chart, 70 = the 1970s and 20+ = 2020 to 2022. The largest group was born in the 1980s (246,829 people).

6,376 women 1,468,116 men

Source: IBGE, 2022 Demographic Census, Nomes no Brasil. The census counts the first name of people alive in 2022; small counts are not published, and the first group covers everyone born before 1940. How to read these data.

Where the name Carlos is most common

States with the highest share of people named Carlos in the population, in the 2022 Census.

Rio de Janeiro 1.070%
Maranhão 0.896%
Sergipe 0.834%
Ceará 0.810%
Alagoas 0.795%

All states

State	People	% of population
São Paulo	304,541	0.686%
Rio de Janeiro	171,772	1.070%
Minas Gerais	149,653	0.729%
Bahia	94,024	0.665%
Rio Grande do Sul	72,909	0.670%
Ceará	71,266	0.810%
Paraná	68,125	0.595%
Pernambuco	63,621	0.702%
Maranhão	60,727	0.896%
Pará	59,898	0.738%
Goiás	51,822	0.734%
Santa Catarina	42,419	0.557%
Espírito Santo	28,746	0.750%
Amazonas	27,085	0.687%
Alagoas	24,872	0.795%
Paraíba	24,394	0.614%
Piauí	24,114	0.737%
Mato Grosso	23,574	0.644%
Rio Grande do Norte	20,468	0.620%
Distrito Federal	20,284	0.720%
Sergipe	18,440	0.834%
Mato Grosso do Sul	17,552	0.637%
Tocantins	10,580	0.700%
Rondônia	9,793	0.619%
Acre	4,947	0.596%
Amapá	4,483	0.611%
Roraima	4,383	0.688%

States with fewer than 15 people with the name are not shown: IBGE does not publish those counts.

About the name Carlos

Wiktionary records Carlos as coming from Latin Carolus, a Latinized form of Germanic names, and a doublet of Charles. Behind the Name explains that Carolus is the Latin form of the Germanic name Karl, derived from Proto-Germanic karlaz, 'man', and mentions an alternative theory that links it to the element harjaz, 'army'. Carlos is the Spanish and Portuguese form of Charles. In the 2022 Census, IBGE recorded 1,474,492 people named Carlos, with a median age of 39. Karlos, with a K, appears as a spelling variant in the Dicionário de Nomes em Uso no Brasil (Dictionary of Names in Use in Brazil).

This is the traditional spelling and the most recorded in the group, with an initial C.

Other spellings of Carlos

Spelling	People (2022)
Carlos	1,474,492
Karlos	4,432

Sources

Wiktionary: Carolus · en.wiktionary.org · origin
Wiktionary: Carlos · en.wiktionary.org · origin
Behind the Name: Carlos · behindthename.com · origin
Behind the Name: Charles · behindthename.com · meaning
Dicionário de Nomes em Uso no Brasil: Carlos · dicionariodenomesdobrasil.com.br · spelling

Questions about the name Carlos

What does the name Carlos mean?

Carlos means “man”, according to Behind the Name.

How many people are named Carlos in Brazil?

IBGE's 2022 Census recorded 1,474,492 people with the first name Carlos, which ranks it number 8 among the country's names. The largest group was born in the 1980s.

Is Carlos a boy's or a girl's name?

Carlos is a male name: in the 2022 Census, 6,376 women and 1,468,116 men had this name.

What is the origin of the name Carlos?

Carlos is a name of Germanic origin. The sources are listed at the end of the page.

In which Brazilian state is Carlos most common?

Proportionally, in Rio de Janeiro: 1.070% of the state's population is named Carlos (171,772 people), according to the 2022 Census.

What are the other spellings of Carlos?

Karlos. IBGE counts each spelling separately.

More names of Germanic origin

See all

Spotted a mistake? Report a correction for Carlos with a source. See the methodology.