Karlie

Karlie is one of the several spelling variations of Carly which itself is a more modern repurposing of Carla. Carla is the female equivalent of the German masculine name Karl/Carl (English: Charles). The Germanic “karl” means “free man” so the feminized Karlie would come to mean “free woman”. In ancient times, the Germanic term “karl” signified a “free” man but not one of nobility; i.e., from the same root as the Olde English “ceorl” meaning a “man of low birth, a common man”. In the later Middle High German or Middle English, the terms “karl/carl” evolved its meaning more simply to just “man, fellow, husband”. Despite the rather “lowly” beginnings of this ancient word, many Europeans of high rank bore names derived from Karl/Carl (such as Charles, Caroline and Charlotte). Just as Charlie became a colloquial pet form for Charles/Charlotte, Carla and Carly developed from Caroline. Carly especially found a home as a legally given first name (rather than a nickname) among American parents during the 1980s and 90s (Canadians and Australians like the Carly names, too). Once the name found favor in America, all sorts of “kreative” respellings began to emerge. In fact, Carly is one of the most respelled names on the U.S. charts (11 versions in all)!