Camilla
Meaning
feminine of Camillus; meaning uncertain
The story
Camilla is the feminine form of the Roman family name Camillus, whose deeper meaning is uncertain. Roman sources used camillus and camilla for young attendants in religious rites, but that history does not justify turning the name into a confident translation such as noble attendant. Literature gave Camilla a vivid independent life: in Virgil's Aeneid she is the swift Volscian warrior maiden allied with Turnus. Frances Burney later used the name for the heroine of her 1796 novel Camilla, helping establish it in English. The US curve has a modest early baseline, softens in the middle of the twentieth century, then rises from the 1990s and reaches a high band in the 2010s and 2020s. Camilla therefore feels both classical and newly prominent. Its strongest story is not a tidy meaning, but a Roman name carried by an unforgettable woman in epic and renewed through later European literature.
Camilla 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
On record since at least 1458: Battista da Varano, baptized with the name Camilla.
Popularity, 1890–2024
Shape drawn from US Social Security baby-name records. Camilla peaked in the 2010s and the 2020s in nearly equal measure.
See popularity in Brazil
Popularity in Brazil
16,285 people · the #1,217 first name in Brazil · about 1 in 12,500 · median age 27
Among people named Camilla living in Brazil at the 2022 census, more were born in the 1990s than in any other decade.
The census also counted 232 born between 2020 and August 2022, too recent a span to chart.
Source: IBGE, Censo Demográfico 2022
When you meet Camilla
Most people given the name Camilla 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 Camilla deep dive
Whether you’re naming a baby or exploring your own name’s history, this is a personal letter, not a list: where Camilla 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 Camilla fits with your family’s names and surname.
Keep exploring
Names like Camilla · Middle names for Camilla · Italian baby names · Names of real princesses
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