Carter

Meaning: “cart driver”
Origin: English occupational — From the occupation carter

Meaning: “son of Arthur”
Origin: Irish patronymic — From Mac Artúir

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

91% boys · 9% girls — Carter is also given to girls: 679 in 2025, about 1 in 11 in recent years. Carter →

Popularity over time

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.

Already rising, US births of Carter increased from 544 in 1994 to 919 in 1995, the year after ER introduced Noah Wyle as medical student John Carter.

Across the states

See where Carter is more common.

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

Around the world

See how Carter ranks in other countries and regions.

#33 in New Zealand (2025) · #42 in Australia (QLD) (2025) · #70 in Australia (NSW) (2025) · #79 in Scotland (2025) · #97 in England & Wales (2025) · #100 in Australia (VIC) (2025) · #115 in N. Ireland (2025) · #319 in Ireland (2025) · #68 in Canada (2024).

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)

As a surname

It is also an American family name — about 377,000 people carried it as a surname in the 2010 census.

Jimmy Carter — President of the United States from 1977 to 1981 (1924–2024)
Howard Carter — British egyptologist (1874–1939)
Rosalynn Carter — First Lady of the United States from 1977 to 1981

In stories & tradition

Carter Pewterschmidt — Family Guy (TV series)
Carter McKay — Dallas (TV series)
Carter Kane — The Kane Chronicles (novel series)

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.

Twin names

A popular twin pairing with Carter is Cooper for a boy.

Spellings & nicknames

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.

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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