Cariad
- Gender
- Girl
- Say it
- KA-ree-ad
- Origin
- Welsh
- UK rank, 2025
- #3,101 for girls
Cariad is a girls' name of Welsh origin, meaning “love, darling”. In 2025 it ranked 3,101st for girls in the UK (8 babies).
What does Cariad mean?
Welsh: Welsh word used as a name
“love, darling”
An everyday Welsh word for love, often used as an affectionate term like darling or sweetheart.
Is Cariad a girl's or a boy's name?
Cariad is a girls' name. In 2025, it was given to 8 girls in the UK. Too few boys were given it to be listed.
How popular is Cariad in the UK?
- Rank in 2025
- #3,101among girls
- Babies in 2025
- 8about 1 in 35,000 girls
- Five-year trend
- Fallingdown 37% in five years
- Same name in a class
- under 1%chance among 15 girls
In 2025, 8 girls in the UK were named Cariad, making it the 3,101st most popular name for girls. Five years earlier, in 2020, it was 1,647th. Its busiest year was 2016, with 23 girls.
Half of all the girls named Cariad in the UK since 1996 were born between 2005 and 2019, the years shaded on the chart below.
Among girls in 2025, it was 3,033rd in England and Wales.
Cariad in the UK, year by year
| Year | Girls | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 8 | #3,101 |
| 2024 | 15 | #1,953 |
| 2023 | 10 | #2,640 |
| 2022 | 16 | #1,873 |
| 2021 | 6 | #3,697 |
| 2020 | 19 | #1,647 |
| 2019 | 19 | #1,651 |
| 2018 | 14 | #2,088 |
| 2017 | 16 | #1,913 |
| 2016 | 23 | #1,498 |
| 2015 | 8 | #3,114 |
| 2014 | 8 | #3,031 |
| 2013 | 10 | #2,599 |
| 2012 | 14 | #2,103 |
| 2011 | 8 | #3,041 |
| 2010 | 7 | #3,308 |
| 2009 | 11 | #2,298 |
| 2008 | 14 | #1,943 |
| 2007 | 9 | #2,543 |
| 2006 | 13 | #1,860 |
| 2005 | 14 | #1,692 |
| 2004 | 14 | #1,634 |
| 2003 | 8 | #2,320 |
| 2002 | 8 | #2,231 |
| 2001 | 6 | #2,587 |
| 2000 | 8 | #2,097 |
| 1999 | 6 | #2,559 |
| 1998 | 10 | #1,815 |
| 1997 | 6 | #2,552 |
| 1996 | 5 | #2,815 |
Nicknames for Cariad
- Cari 8 girls in the UK in 2025
Names like Cariad
Names given in the same years and the same naming tradition, with a similar sound.
Maria Esme Aria Coco Lucia Dua Rosa Croia Lola Ariana Sophia Marigold
Names related to Cariad
More Welsh names
Dylan Owen Winnie Maddox Morgan Idris Reese Bowen Griffin Rhys Gavin Reece Nia Seren Gwendolyn Winifred
Sources
Figures from Baby names in England and Wales (Office for National Statistics), Babies' first names (National Records of Scotland) and Baby names (Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency). Nameling last updated them on 20 October 2026. How the figures are worked out, and the data to download.
To cite this page: Nameling, “Cariad: name meaning, origin and popularity”, https://www.nameling.co.uk/names/cariad, updated 20 October 2026.