girl's name
Carla
KAR-luh
- Origin Italian
- Gender Girl
- Syllables 2
- Letters 5
- Popularity Uncommon
- Births on record 185,539
Ireland
#347
2025 births
Carla is a girl's name meaning free man, the Italian and Spanish feminine of Carlo. It charts in five markets, and Ireland gives it the strongest position at 347th — ahead of Italy's own neighbors and of America.
- Carla is a name of Italian origin.
- Peaked in 1961, when 5,829 babies were given the name.
- It has been falling over the past decade.
- Today about 1 in 14,867 babies in the United States is given this name.
- First appears in US birth records in 1890.
- 2 syllables, with the stress on syllable 1.
Carla over time
Births per decade in the United States, 1890s to 2020s. The striped bar is the 2020s, still in progress — it covers 2020 to 2025, not a full ten years.
Show the numbers
| Decade | Births |
|---|---|
| 1890s | 11 |
| 1900s | 54 |
| 1910s | 171 |
| 1920s | 550 |
| 1930s | 2,262 |
| 1940s | 9,497 |
| 1950s | 29,490 |
| 1960s | 48,024 |
| 1970s | 26,939 |
| 1980s | 14,559 |
| 1990s | 8,435 |
| 2000s | 6,167 |
| 2010s | 3,155 |
| 2020s (to 2025) | 1,501 |
What Carla means
Carla means free man, or free woman in the feminine. The Germanic word named a free peasant specifically, a man belonging to no lord, rather than freedom as an abstract idea.
Where Carla comes from
Carla is the Italian and Spanish feminine of Carlo, from the Germanic karl — a free man of the ordinary class. The same word rose into Charlemagne, Carolus Magnus, whose name became the word for a king in several Slavic languages, and sank into the English churl, meaning a boor. Carla belongs to a wide family that includes Carol, Carole, Caroline, Carolyn, Charlene and Carrie, all of them feminines of the same Germanic common noun by different national routes.
Carla in use
Carla peaked in the United States in 1961, when 5,829 babies were registered, and is falling in our data. It now ranks 347th in Ireland on 12 births, 412th in France on 130, 765th in Scotland, 946th in England and Wales on 38 and 1084th in the United States on 223, across 185,539 lifetime births in six of the seven markets we track. Ireland and France both place it well above America.
How popular is Carla?
In 2025, Carla was given to 223 babies in the United States. It is used consistently but remains uncommon.
Where Carla is used
US figures omit any name given to fewer than five babies in a year, so the rarest names are absent from the source rather than absent from use. Data & sources.
Names that peaked alongside Carla
These names rose and fell in the same era, which is why they tend to sound like they belong together.
Parents who like Carla also like
Names whose popularity has risen and fallen in step with Carla over the last century — the same taste, a different name.
Carla in other languages
The same name as it is spelled elsewhere — not shortenings, and not different names that merely sound alike. Each one has its own record here.
Sibling names for Carla
Names from the same era that won't rhyme or share an initial with Carla — the two things that make a sibling set grate.
Common questions about Carla
What does the name Carla mean?
Free man, from the Germanic karl — a free peasant rather than a nobleman.
Is Carla related to Carol?
Yes — Carla, Carol, Caroline, Charlene and Carrie are all feminines of the same Germanic word.
Is it Carla or Karla?
Both are used; Carla is the Italian and Spanish spelling and much the more common.
How popular is Carla?
347th in Ireland, its strongest market, and 1084th in the United States.
Is Carla a girl's or a boy's name?
Carla is given almost entirely to girls in birth records.
How many syllables are in Carla?
Carla has 2 syllables.
Is Carla a good name?
That is not something records can settle, but they can tell you what you would be choosing. Carla currently ranks #347 in the United States. It has been falling over the past decade. Everything else — how it sounds with your surname, who it reminds you of — is yours.