Camila
Meaning
in Roman legend the swift warrior maiden of the Volsci, from camillus, a youth who served at the altar; the Spanish and Portuguese spelling of Camilla, and one of Latin America's defining girls' names of recent decades
The story
Camila reaches back to one of the oldest stories in Latin legend: Camilla, the warrior maiden of the Volsci, raised in the wild and so swift, Virgil wrote, that she could run over a field of wheat without bending the stalks. Behind the legend sits camillus, the Roman word for a youth who served at the altar. Spanish and Portuguese pared the spelling to Camila, and in recent decades it became one of Latin America's defining girls' names. The US caught that wave late and hard: absent from the records until the 1990s, then a steep, unbroken climb to a 2020s peak that is still standing. The singer Camila Cabello arrived mid-rise, and her fame lines up neatly with the steepest stretch, though the surge was already well underway before her. Few names now climbing carry a past this deep.
Camila around the world
One shared root links 4 names across 4 languages.
Shared root: from Latin camillus "acolyte, a youth serving in ritual", borne in legend by the warrior maiden Camilla
The constellation
Popularity, 1890–2024
Shape drawn from US Social Security baby-name records. Camila peaked in the 2020s.
Popularity in Brazil
436,901 people · the #59 first name in Brazil · about 1 in 465 · median age 27
Among people named Camila living in Brazil at the 2022 census, more were born in the 1990s than in any other decade.
The census also counted 4,447 born between 2020 and August 2022, too recent a span to chart.
Source: IBGE, Censo Demográfico 2022
When you meet Camila
Most people given the name Camila in the United States are children or teenagers today. The name belongs to this generation.
Estimated from US Social Security birth registrations and typical lifespans; a rough guide, not a rule.
The Camila deep dive
Whether you’re naming a baby or exploring your own name’s history, this is a personal letter, not a list: where Camila truly comes from, how it traveled, and what a century of records reveals. If you have grown a tree on nametree, it also considers how Camila fits with your family’s names and surname.
Where Camila travels
Italian Brazilian · ceremonial attendant (Brazilian single-consonant spelling of the Italian Camilla)
Mexican American · young ceremonial attendant; one of the biggest breakout names for Mexican-American girls in the 21st century
Spanish · attendant, noble servant
Portuguese · ceremonial attendant
Global crossover · young ceremonial attendant; wildly popular across Brazil and Latin America and a top-20 US favorite
Keep exploring
Names like Camila · Nicknames for Camila · Middle names for Camila · Italian Brazilian baby names · Global crossover names · Spanish baby names · Portuguese and Brazilian baby names · Mexican American baby names
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