girl's name

Carmela

  • Gender Girl
  • Syllables 3
  • Letters 7
  • Popularity Uncommon
  • Births on record 26,532

Ireland

#506

1972 births

Carmela is a girl's name with 3 syllables. In 2025 it was given to 186 babies in the United States. It is used consistently but remains uncommon.

  • Peaked in 1923, when 586 babies were given the name.
  • After peaking in the 1920s it fell out of use, and is now climbing again — a classic revival.
  • Today about 1 in 17,825 babies in the United States is given this name.
  • First appears in US birth records in 1882.
  • 3 syllables, with the stress on syllable 2.

Carmela over time

Births per decade in the United States, 1880s to 2020s. The striped bar is the 2020s, still in progress — it covers 2020 to 2025, not a full ten years.

5,430
'80 '90 '00 '10 '20 '30 '40 '50 '60 '70 '80 '90 '00 '10 '20
Show the numbers
Births named Carmela by decade in the United States
Decade Births
1880s 37
1890s 280
1900s 815
1910s 3,461
1920s 5,430
1930s 2,885
1940s 1,731
1950s 1,720
1960s 2,091
1970s 1,400
1980s 900
1990s 674
2000s 1,005
2010s 1,131
2020s (to 2025) 951

How popular is Carmela?

In 2025, Carmela was given to 186 babies in the United States. It is used consistently but remains uncommon.

Where Carmela is used

Ireland #506 3 in 1972
United States #1,219 186 in 2025
Canada #2,791 7 in 2024
England & Wales #5,317 4 in 2025
France #6,082 5 in 2024

The bar shows how near the top of each country's list the name sits, on a scale where #1 fills the row and #1,000 is a sliver. The figures beside it are the real rank and the babies recorded that year.

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.

How Carmela is spelled

Birth registers count each spelling separately, so every one has its own ranking.

Spelling What it is Births on record
Carméla Carméla is a rare spelling of Carmela, written with an acute accent and recorded about 10 times, mostly in France. 10

Names that peaked alongside Carmela

These names rose and fell in the same era, which is why they tend to sound like they belong together.

Parents who like Carmela also like

Names whose popularity has risen and fallen in step with Carmela over the last century — the same taste, a different name.

Carmela 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.

Asturian
Carme
Catalan
Carme
Galician
Carme
Spanish
Carmelita
Other forms
Forms we hold no single language for — some are used across several, some are simply spelled differently.
Karmela

Sibling names for Carmela

Names from the same era that won't rhyme or share an initial with Carmela — the two things that make a sibling set grate.

Common questions about Carmela

How popular is the name Carmela?

In 2025, Carmela was given to 186 babies in the United States. It is used consistently but remains uncommon.

Is Carmela a girl's or a boy's name?

Carmela is given almost entirely to girls in birth records.

How many syllables are in Carmela?

Carmela has 3 syllables.

When was Carmela most popular?

Carmela peaked in 1923, when 586 babies were given the name. After peaking in the 1920s it fell out of use, and is now climbing again — a classic revival.

Is Carmela a good name?

That is not something records can settle, but they can tell you what you would be choosing. Carmela currently ranks #1,219 in the United States. After peaking in the 1920s it fell out of use, and is now climbing again — a classic revival. Everything else — how it sounds with your surname, who it reminds you of — is yours.