 The town was known in Swedish by the name until 1 January 1977 when the surrounding land municipality of Kaarlela () was consolidated with Kokkola, and the town took over the Swedish name of .The word means "old", "karl" means "man" or "peasant" and "by" means "village", in tearn literally meaning '"old village of peasants" or Anglicised as "Old Peasantville".The Latin name was "Carolina Vetus".