Carly Shay

Carlotta "Carly" Shay (born July 24, 1994) (age 16) is the main protagonist of the TV series iCarly. She is the younger sister of Spencer Shay and the daughter of Colonel Steven Shay and Mrs. Shay. She lives with Spencer in an apartment at Bushwell Plaza, while their father is on a military assignment. She is the best friend of Sam Puckett and former best friend of Missy Robinson when she was younger. She is also the best friend and for a short time was the girlfriend of Freddie Benson who lives across the hallway and has a crush on her. She is portrayed by Miranda Cosgrove as a teenager, and Jadin Gould as an eight-year-old in a flashback (iDon't Want to Fight).

Characteristics
Carly is a kind, easy going, and caring person who would do anything for her friends, although she can be a tiny bit spoiled and bratty at times when she doesn't get things her way, such as in iLook Alike, when Spencer refuses to let her go to a wrestling match. In iDate a Bad Boy, it is shown she is a bit shallow, as she had a dislike of Griffin's hobby of collecting Pee Wee Babies.

Occasionally, she has to get between her best friends Sam and Freddie when the two argue too much. She gets good grades and usually stays out of trouble, except for when she takes the blame for Sam's misdeeds.

She is easily grossed out by vermin, the gross videos Sam likes (except in iStage an Intervention, when she wanted to see a guy who could pull his lip down over his chin), or even when Spencer says "bowels" (iTake on Dingo). In iMake Sam Girlier, Sam tells Carly that she is "soft and girly and weak." and in iTake on Dingo, Sam called her "prissy." Carly agreed with this, referring to herself as "the prissiest." It was shown in iSpace Out and confirmed in iSam's Mom that Carly suffers from claustrophobia and freaks out if she is locked in a small space for a long time; however, in iPsycho, she seems only mildly distressed when Nora locks her, Sam and Freddie in her sound booth.

She takes really long showers when she is depressed or needs to think, as mentioned in iGive Away a Car.

In iWanna Stay With Spencer, it was implied Carly used to be a sick child. According to Spencer, she has to take vitamins every day and suffers from allergies and asthma. She had her last asthma attack when she was seven years old.

Possibly her most prominent trait, Carly, unlike Sam, is not tough, and even when furious, she has never physically attacked anyone on-screen (but tackled Freddie in an angry manner in iThink They Kissed). However, on occasion, she will confront someone, even bullies and teachers, for her friends when it is needed, as shown in iHave a Lovesick Teacher and iMake Sam Girlier. She was also part of a girl mob (Sam and Shelby Marx) that beat up Nevel in iFight Shelby Marx.

Carly shows singing ability in iDo.

Sam Puckett
Carly and Sam met when they were about eight years old and Sam wanted to steal Carly's tuna sandwich. When Carly fought back, Sam was impressed and the two eventually became friends. To this day, they share a close friendship that some fans even think of as romantic to a certain degree (see Cam Relationship.)

Carly acts as a moral guardian to Sam, trying to keep her out of trouble and occasionally taking the blame for her pranks. Although Sam frequently causes Carly trouble, she likes her for being "creative, smart, fun and awesome". In iChristmas, it was shown that Carly's life would be very different without Sam; iCarly would never have existed and Caely would be dating Nevel Papperman. At times, Carly and Sam's fights are extremely bad, such as in iDon't Want to Fight and iSaw Him First. In iQuit iCarly, one of their fights even lead to a near-death situation for both of them. They seem to be close as sisters as they look out for each other. (see Cam Friendship)

Freddie Benson
Carly is very aware of Freddie's crush on her, and sometimes exploits that he would do anything for her if she says "Please? For me?" in a sweet, cute voice. They keep up a good friendship, though, and know they can rely on each other when it's necessary. Freddie and Carly have in common that they maintain high grades, don't like getting in trouble, and both live in the Bushwell Plaza. They are really good friends. (see Creddie Friendship) They have been girlfriend and boyfriend once, (see iSaved Your Life) but Sam convinced Freddie to break up with Carly (Saying he was "foreign bacon".)

Spencer Shay
Carly and her brother usually have a very good relationship and have fun hanging out together. Carly acts as the voice of reason or as an emotional support when needed, but can also rely on him when she has trouble. She is used to him letting her have a lot of freedom and gets irritated when he doesn't give her what she wants, as shown in iLook Alike. Their brother/sister relationship is very important to the show, (see: Sparly).

Gibby Gibson
(See: Cibby)

Boyfriends/Dates/Crushes
Ben Huebscher (First kiss) In iKiss, Carly tells Sam and Freddie that her first kiss was with a boy named Ben Huebscher, who she kissed under a kumquat tree and he tasted like potato salad. It is unknown whether they were dating or not. He is named after an iCarly writer.

Freddie Benson (2005-present; Best Friend, Ex-Boyfriend)

Freddie has had a huge crush on Carly ever since he met her. At times, he looked through his peephole and waited for her to come home. Carly never seemed threatened by this behavior, but rather amused. They were in a relationship in "iSaved Your Life", but Sam convinced Freddie that Carly was only touched that he saved her life and wasn't in love with him, but what he did. They broke up afterwards, but said they could possibly date again when Carly is over the whole hero thing. An area of Carly's wall in her bedroom has pictures of Freddie, all specially framed, hinting that she isn't completely over him. (Also, see Creddie)

Jake Crandle (2007; Crush)

In "iLike Jake" (the fourth episode), she had a crush on Jake and he liked her back. After Jake saw Carly kiss Freddie on the nose (for helping to make Jake's singing voice sound good for the web show), he believed that they were a couple. Because of this, Jake decided to get back together with his ex-girlfriend, leaving Carly single.

Gibby Gibson (2008-present; Friend, Date)

In iWin a Date Gibby chose Carly as his date by mistake. They went on a triple date to The Cheesecake Warehouse: Carly and Gibby, Sam and Reuben, Freddie and Shannon. Carly tried to help Shannon to like Gibby. After that, Carly and Gibby become good friends. (Also, see Cibby)

Shane (2008; Crush, Date)

She went out with him for a brief time in "iSaw Him First," but since Sam was also dating him at the same time, the two of them fight and decide that the one who kisses him first gets to date him. Shane broke up with them when he found out about their competition for him.

Nevel Papperman (2008; Alternate Reality Boyfriend)

Nevel tried to get a kiss from Carly ever since they met in iNevel, but Carly constantly refuses. In the episode iChristmas, if Spencer was born normal, Nevel was going to be Carly's boyfriend.

Griffin (2009; Ex-Boyfriend)

She dated him in "iDate a Bad Boy" until she found out he collected PeeWee Babies. She tried to make the relationship work, but then Griffin overheard Carly and Sam making fun of his PeeWee Babies and then broke up with her. He comes back in "iBeat the Heat" and tries to kiss her, but she rebuffs him. (Also see Criffin)

Austin (2009; Date) Carly chose him as her date in "iSpeed Date." At the end of the episode, she dumped him because he kept interrupted her with random sentences whenever she wanted to say something.

Adam (2010; Crush)

Carly loved Adam in IStart a Fanwar. He seemed to be interested in her, too, but in the end, he was attacked by Creddie fans and Carly just left after Sam said “he belongs to them now.. (Also, see Cadam)

Enemies

 * Lewbert (various)
 * Nevel Papperman (iNevel, iRue The Day, iChristmas, iGive Away a Car, iWant My Website Back, iFight Shelby Marx, IPity The Nevel)
 * Tasha (iNevel)
 * Valerie (iWill Date Freddie)
 * Ms. Briggs (iSpy a Mean Teacher, iHave My Principals)
 * Mr. Devlin (iPromise Not to Tell)
 * Jonah(iHate Sam's Boyfriend)
 * Amber Tate (iCarly Saves TV)
 * Zeebo (iCarly Saves TV)
 * Kyoko and Yuki (iGo To Japan)
 * Wade Collins (iRocked the Vote) - Enemy of David Archuleta.
 * Missy Robinson (IReunite with Missy)
 * Chuck Chambers (iTwins)
 * Mr. Howard (especially in iHave My Principals)
 * The Petographers (iMove Out)
 * Nora Dirshlitt (iPsycho)
 * The 4th Grader Kids (ISell Penny-Tees)
 * Aspartamay (iStart a Fanwar)

Trivia

 * Carly has had multiple near-death experiences: in iWanna Stay with Spencer (nearly getting hit in the head with a hammer); in iQuit iCarly (almost falling off a window washer platform); and in iSaved Your Life (almost getting hit by a taco truck, but rescued by Freddie, off-screen).
 * She and Sam had been friends five years before the episode iDon't Want to Fight. Carly and Sam have now been best friends for eight years.
 * She and Sam have broken up as best friends twice in the series. Once in iDon't Want to Fight, and again in iQuit iCarly.
 * Carly is fond of the stores "Build-A-Bra" and "Glitter Gloss."
 * She is an avid believer in Bigfoot (iBelieve in Bigfoot).
 * Her great-grandmother gave her a heavily insured diamond bejeweled watch when she died. It comes in handy when her room was destroyed in a fire and her heavily insured diamond bejeweled watch was destroyed in the fire. It was insured for $82,000. (iGot a Hot Room)
 * She appears to like some bad boys, like Griffin.
 * Despite the fact that Carly's birthday is on July 24, in iScream on Halloween, she says she's a Capricorn (which would place her birthday in early January or late December). On iCarly.com, her birthday originally was said to be January 14, but it was changed shortly before the finale of Season 3, probably to make it closer to the airdate of iGot a Hot Room.
 * Carly is the youngest of the iCarly trio (Sam, Freddie and herself), as her birthday is in July and Freddie and Sam's birthdays are in February and April, respectively.
 * She loves a band called Cuttlefish.
 * Carly's only younger counterpart was presented on iDon't Want to Fight.
 * In iOwe You, Spencer reveals Carly used to be a Sunshine Girl.