Carl (given name)

**Carl** [ kahrl ] is a North Germanic male name meaning "free man". The name originates in Old West Norse. It is the first name of many Kings of Sweden including Carl XVI Gustaf. It is popular in Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden, and was largely popularized in the United States by Scandinavian and Italian (shortened from "Carlo") descendants. **Karl** is a Germanic spelling which is very popular in Austria, Estonia, Germany, Norway, Sweden, and Switzerland, and was also popularized by German-speaking descendants in the USA. Other variants include the Anglo-Saxon-Frankish variant Charles, popular in Australia, Philippines, Canada, France, New Zealand, the UK and the United States, although both Karl and Carl are also widespread names in most English speaking countries; Carlo, very popular in Italy and southern Switzerland; Carlos, popular in Spain, Portugal and Latin America; and Karol, a variant in Poland and Slovakia. This name was ranked #927 on the US Popular Names in 2021. 

## List of people named Carl
### Royalty and nobility
*Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden, the current Swedish monarch
*Prince Carl Philip, Duke of Värmland, Prince of Sweden
*Prince Carl, Duke of Västergötland
*Carl, Duke of Württemberg (born 1936)

### As a family name
*Christian Thomsen Carl (1676–1713), Danish navy officer. Middle name also given as Thomasen, Thomesen, or Thomasen.

### As a given name
*Carl Anderson (singer) (1945–2004), American singer and actor
*Carl Ballantine (1917–2009), American actor
*Carl Barât
*Carl Barks
*Carl Bildt
*Carl L. Boeckmann
*Carl Bradford (born 1992), American football player
*Carl "Charlie" Brandt, American serial killer
*Carl Brashear, U.S. Navy master diver
*Carl Byrum, American football player
*Carl Caldenius, Swedish geologist
*Carl Carlton, American singer-songwriter
*Carl Clark (1933–2015), American photographer
*Carl Cohen (businessman) (1913–1986), American gambling executive and Las Vegas casino manager
*Carl Cohen (philosopher) (born 1931), professor of philosophy at the University of Michigan, philosopher, and animal rights activist
*Carl Colpaert
*Carl Czerny, pianist
*Carl Decaluwé (born 1960), Belgian politician
*Carl Dobkins Jr. (1941–2020), American singer and songwriter
*Carl Douglas, Jamaican musician who wrote the disco song "Kung Fu Fighting"
*Carl E. Douglas, American lawyer and member of the defense team during O.J. Simpson's murder trial
*Carl Earn (1921–2007), American tennis player
*Carl Edwards
*Carl Fodor
*Carl Fogarty
*Carl Froch 
*Carl Garrigus, American football player
*Carl Friedrich Gauss
*Carl Giammerese (1947-), guitar player for American pop group The Buckinghams.
*Carl Granderson (born 1996), American football player
*Carl Grubert
*Carl Gunnarsson, Swedish ice hockey player
*Carl August Hagberg, Swedish linguist
*Carl Hunter bassist in The Farm
*Carl Icahn, American businessman
* Carl Johan, Swedish film producer
*Carl von In der Maur (1852–1913), Austrian aristocrat and Liechtenstein government official
*Carl Jenkinson, football (soccer) player 
*Carl Johan Ståhlberg (1865–1952), Finnish jurist and the First President of the Republic of Finland
*Carl Jung (1875–1961), Swiss psychiatrist and psychotherapist, founder of analytical psychology
*Carl Karcher
*Carl Kasell (1934–2018), American radio personality
*Carl Laemmle (1867–1939), founder of Universal Pictures
*Carl Laemmle Jr. (1908–1979), producer and businessman
*Carl Lawson (American football) (born 1994), American football player
*Carl J. Luksic (1921–2009), American flying ace during World War II
*Carl Lutz (1895–1975), Swiss vice-consul to Hungary during WWII, credited with saving over 62,000 Jews
*Carl Mann (1942–2020), American rockabilly singer
*Carl Menger, Austrian economist
*Carl Oliver (born 1969), Bahamian sprinter and Olympic medallist
*Carl Ona-Embo (born 1989), Congolese basketball player
*Charles "Carl" Panzram, American serial killer
*Carl Perkins (1932–1998), American singer-songwriter
*Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach
*Carl Posy, Israeli philosopher
*Carl Pursell, American politician
*Carl Reiner (1922–2020), American actor, comedian, and director
*Carl Rogers, American psychologist and psychotherapist
*Carl Hancock Rux, American poet, playwright, writer, singer
*Carl Sagan, American astronomer, cosmologist, astrophysicist
*Carl Sandburg, American poet, writer, editor
*Carl Sargeant (1968-2017), Welsh politician
*Carl Schueler, American race walker
*Carl Smith (musician) (1927–2010), American country music singer
*Carl Söderberg, Swedish ice hockey player
*Carl Stockdale, American actor
*Carl Heinrich Stratz, German-Russian gynecologist
*Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer, American actor and singer, best known as "Alfalfa" from the *Our Gang* (*Little Rascals*) comedy shorts
*Carl Olof Tallgren, Finnish politician and businessman
*Carl Valeri, Australian association football player
*Carl Van Doren, American critic
*Carl Maria von Weber
*Carl Weathers
*Carl Wieland
*Carl Wilson (1946–1998), American musician and lead guitar player for The Beach Boys
*Carl Wittrock, Dutch composer and conductor
*Carl Voss-Schrader (1880–1955), Finnish colonel, business director, lawyer and interior minister
*Carl Yastrzemski (born 1939), American former baseball player
*Carl Zeiss

### As a stage name
*Carl Carl, stage name of Karl Andreas Bernbrunn (1787–1854), Polish-born actor and theatre director
*Margarethe Carl, stage name of Margarethe Bernbrunn (1788–1861), German soprano and actress

## Fictional characters
*Carl, a llama in the web series *Llamas with Hats*
*Carl, a character from Disney's *Meet the Robinsons*
*Carl, a character from the 1947 film *Unconquered*
*Carl, a character from *Waltzes from Vienna*
*"Carl", a nickname for the Series 800 Model 101 Terminator in *Terminator: Dark Fate*
*Carl Bentley, a character from the 1995 film *Jumanji*
*Carl Brutananadilewski, a character from *Aqua Teen Hunger Force*
*Carl Carlson, a character from *The Simpsons*
*Carl Clover, a playable character in the *Blazblue* fighting game series.
*Carl Conrad Coreander, a character in *The Neverending Story*
*Carl Denham, a character from the 1933 film *King Kong* and its 2005 remake
*Carl Elias, a recurring antagonist from the science fiction drama *Persons of interest*
*Carl Fredricksen, a character from Disney-Pixar's *Up*
*Carl Gallagher, a character in the TV series *Shameless*
*Carl Gould, a playable character in the *Arthur*' fighting game series
*Carl Grimes, a notoriously elusive character from the comic/TV series *The Walking Dead*
*Carl Hamilton, a Swedish secret agent of novels by Jan Guillou
*Carl Johnson, a character in the *Grand Theft Auto* video game series
*Carl Kolchak, a character from *Kolchak: The Night Stalker*
*Carl Rader, a character from the 1940 film *Santa Fe Trail*
*Carl Stephans, a character from *711 Ocean Drive*
*Carl the Grim Rabbit, a character from *Looney Tunes*
*Carl Wheezer, a character from *The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius*
*Carl Winslow, a character from the TV series *Family Matters*
* Carl Proctor, character in the Police Academy Film Series 
* Carl Sweetchuck, character in the Police Academy Film Series  
* Carl, mysterious entity first seen in the Star Trek: Discovery episode "Terra Firma, Part 1"
* Floating Carl, a benevolent ghost character from CS Cinema

## Derived surnames
There are several derivations of the surname Carl, most of them originating as "son of Carl":
* Carlsen (name)
* Carlson (name)
* Carlsson
* Carlton (name)
* Karlsen
* Karlsson

## References