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Carmela

girl name
Origin
Hebrew
Syllables
3
Peak era
1890s/2020s
Today
▬ Steady

Torn between Carmela and another name? Compare them side by side →

Meaning

garden, vineyard (from Mount Carmel)

Carmela across languages

One shared root links 4 names across 3 languages.

Shared root: from Mount Carmel, Hebrew karmel "garden, orchard", by way of Our Lady of Mount Carmel; the Spanish form leans on Latin carmen "song"

The constellation

CarmelaItalianCarmenSpanishCarmeloSpanish

More branches

CarmellaEnglish · variant

How popular is Carmela around the world?

In the United States, 951 babies were named Carmela between 2020 and 2025. In Montevideo, 10 girls named Carmela were born in 2011, spelling variants counted together.

Carmela is on the official records of the United States, Montevideo, Argentina, Spain, South Australia, Canada, Mexico City, Poland, Brazil and England and Wales.

United States

1 in 23,000

In the United States, 951 babies were named Carmela between 2020 and 2025.

peak 1890s2020s

Shape drawn from US Social Security baby-name records. Carmela peaked in the 1890s and the 2020s in nearly equal measure. In US birth records Carmela has stayed between 674 and 2,091 births in every decade since the 1950s: a name everyone knows and few children get.

Births with a Social Security record. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration

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Montevideo City

1 in 2,500 · 2011

In Montevideo, 10 girls named Carmela were born in 2011, spelling variants counted together.

1940peak 2008

share of that year’s births on record

Births in the department of Montevideo (not all of Uruguay) by first name and year of birth, 1940–2011, from the city’s civil registry, which writes names in capitals, almost always without accents; counted as spelling groups (accent and punctuation variants merged), nothing is withheld at source, and 2012 is excluded as a partial year. Source: Servicio de Registro Civil, Intendencia de Montevideo, Partidas de Registro Civil de Montevideo (Licencia de Datos Abiertos - Uruguay); 2012 dropped as partial

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Argentina

1 in 3,700

In Argentina, 181 newborns were given the name Carmela in 2024.

2012peak 20212024

share of that year’s name registrations

Given-name components of births in Argentina 2012–2024; national cells are lower bounds and no sex split is published. Source: RENAPER (Argentina), Dirección Nacional de Población, given names 2012-2024

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Spain

1 in 13,000

In Spain, 3,326 residents are named Carmela, the 643rd most common name among women, with a mean age of 43.9 years.

Residents of Spain on 1 January 2025. Spain publishes how old a name’s living bearers are, not a birth series, so there is no year chart. Source: INE (Spain), Censo de Población anual, 1 January 2025

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South Australia

1 in 18,000 · 2017

In South Australia, 1 girl was registered as Carmela in 2017.

peak 19602017

share of that year’s name registrations

Births registered in South Australia (not all of Australia) by first name and year of registration, 1944–2017, from the state’s Births, Deaths and Marriages registry, which publishes every name down to a single birth in capitals; a spelling its export repeats inside a year is counted once, and from 2018 only a top 100 is published, so the series ends at 2017. Source: Consumer and Business Services (South Australia), popular baby names

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Canada

1 in 52,000

In Canada, 7 girls named Carmela were born in 2024, ranked 2,710th among girls that year.

1991peak 20152024

share of that year’s name registrations

First given names from provincial and territorial vital statistics across Canada; any name-sex-year under 5 is excluded at source, and small Quebec counts carry a randomized adjustment made at source. Shares divide by Statistics Canada’s count of live births for the year; the 2024 count is preliminary. Source: Statistics Canada, first names at birth (table 17-10-0147-01)

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Mexico City City

1 in 120,000

In Mexico City, there was 1 registration of Carmela in 2022.

peak 20002022

share of that year’s registrations in the city

Civil-registry acts in Mexico City by registration year. Counts are lower bounds (names under 6 in a month and borough are removed at source) and count name-instances, not people; compound names are split, so “Maria Jose” counts under each part. 2023, a partial extract through 3 Mar with no cell on record for this name, is excluded. Source: Registro Civil of Mexico City, open data portal, registered given names 2000-2023

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Poland

1 in 120,000

In Poland, 2 girls named Carmela were born in 2025, the 706th most common name among girls that year.
The count never rose above 5 in a year, too few to chart.

First names given to children born in Poland by year of birth, 2000–2025, from the PESEL population register (Ministry of Digital Affairs); exact spellings count separately (Łukasz and Lukasz are different names), names given fewer than 5 times in a year were left off the list through 2012 and fewer than 2 times from 2013, and the register also counts children born abroad, so its yearly sums run above Poland’s live births. Shares divide by the register’s own published total for the year, never by births. Source: Ministry of Digital Affairs, PESEL register (dane.gov.pl)

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Brazil

1 in 120,000

At the 2022 census, 1,676 people in Brazil were named Carmela, ranked 5,794th, with a median age of 68.
Among people named Carmela living in Brazil at the 2022 census, more were born in the 1940s than in any other decade.

peak 1940s2010s

people alive at the 2022 census, by decade of birth

The census also counted 75 born between 2020 and August 2022, too recent a span to chart. People alive and resident in Brazil at the 2022 census, a living-population count, not births; names under 20 are withheld at source. Source: IBGE, Censo Demográfico 2022

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England and Wales

1 in 150,000

In England and Wales, 4 girls named Carmela were born in 2025, ranked 4,867th among girls that year.

1996peak 2018

share of that year’s name registrations

Birth registrations in England and Wales (not the whole UK); exact spellings are counted separately, and any spelling under 3 in a year is withheld at source. Source: Office for National Statistics, baby names in England and Wales

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Austria

last on record 2021

Carmela is not on the 2025 record for Austria, which publishes every first name down to a single birth, so the name was not given there that year.
The count never rose above 3 in a year, too few to chart.

Live births in Austria by year of birth, 1984–2025, from Statistik Austria’s first-name statistics; spellings that differ only by special characters are counted together (umlauts stay apart), every name down to a single birth is published, and the count covers babies with Austrian citizenship only until 2009, every baby from 2010, and from 2015 also births abroad to mothers living in Austria. Shares divide by Statistik Austria’s count of live births from 2010, and before that by the file’s own total for the year. Source: Statistik Austria - data.statistik.gv.at (OGDEXT_VORNAMEN_1, updated 2026-07-09)

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Chile

last on record 2020

Carmela is not on the 2021 record for Chile, where nametree keeps the spellings that reached 5 registrations in some year.

peak 19422021

share of that year’s name registrations

First-name registrations with Chile’s civil registry by year of registration, 1920–2021, counted as spelling groups (Sofía, Sofia and Sofìa are one name, shown with its most-registered spelling); the registry withholds nothing, nametree keeps the groups that reached 5 registrations in some year, and shares divide by every registration of the year. Source: Servicio de Registro Civil e Identificación (Chile) via the guaguas package, first-name registrations 1920-2021

See the full list for Chile →

France

last on record 2024

Carmela is not on the 2025 record for France, where spellings under 3 in a year are withheld at source.

1900peak 19632025

share of that year’s births on record

Births in France by year of birth, from INSEE’s fichier des prénoms (1900–2025; Mayotte from 2012); exact spellings count separately (Léo and Leo are different names), any spelling under 3 in a year and sex is withheld at source, every count is rounded to the nearest 5 at source, and nametree keeps the spellings that reached 20 in some year. Shares divide by INSEE’s count of births in France from 1957, and before that by the file’s own total for the year; INSEE says the file is not complete before 1946. Source: Insee, fichier des prénoms (last updated 2026-07-16)

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Ireland

last on record 1972

Carmela is not on the 2025 record for Ireland, where names under 3 in a year are withheld at source.
The count never rose above 3 in a year, too few to chart.

Exact registered spellings from Irish vital statistics; any name under 3 in a year is withheld at source, and accented spellings (fadas) are recorded reliably only from 2018. Source: Central Statistics Office (Ireland), Irish babies' names

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Not on the record in Puerto Rico, New Zealand and Scotland: those registries withhold small counts, so rare uses may sit below their floors.

Not on Norway’s list: Statistics Norway lists only first names carried by 200 or more living people, so rarer names are not shown.

All records: the most popular baby names around the world →

Names that fit alongside Carmela

Sara Eliana Marianna Raquel Giovanna Jaime

Where Carmela travels

Italian American · a warm, old-world classic

Filipino American · garden, orchard (from Mount Carmel)

Keep exploring

Italian American baby names · Filipino American baby names · Familiar but never popular

The Carmela deep dive

Written for you · $1.99 →

Whether you’re naming a baby or exploring your own name’s history, this is a personal letter, not a list: where Carmela 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 Carmela fits with your family’s names and surname.

Both reports, explained →

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