Yeah, that all sounds less like Mary Sue reasons and more like "the writers trying too hard to establish Carlie as a new love interest."

You say tomato, I say tamahto. Same thing.

And Brian K. Vaghun named Molly Hayes after his little sister, what's your point?

Carlie being named after Joe's daughter is the straw that broke the camel's back. It's in a completely different stratosphere than Molly.