Cara
Cara was given to 168 girls in 2025, #1,326 among girls’ names; 53,367 Americans have been recorded with it since 1882 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 49,900 Americans named Cara and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (93% of everyone recorded); the median is 40 years old and half are between 28 and 50.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Cara by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Cara mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Cara is “a female given name originating as a coinage.” Its etymology gives the senses “dear” (cara) and “friend” (cara).
20th-century English coinage from Italian cara (“dear”) or Irish cara (“friend”).
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Cara?
#1,326 among girls’ names, 2025
Cara fell from #730 in 2015 to #1,326 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born fell from 0.22 to 0.10 per 1,000.
1,472 babies in 1985, the peak
Cara peaked in 1985, when 1,472 babies were given it (1,465 girls, #184 among girls’ names). The 168 births of 2025 are 11% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 168 | #1,326 | 0.10 |
| 2024 | 178 | #1,297 | 0.11 |
| 2023 | 182 | #1,264 | 0.11 |
| 2022 | 208 | #1,163 | 0.13 |
| 2021 | 248 | #1,025 | 0.15 |
| 2020 | 289 | #908 | 0.18 |
| 2019 | 252 | #1,021 | 0.15 |
| 2018 | 310 | #874 | 0.18 |
| 2017 | 318 | #861 | 0.18 |
| 2016 | 352 | #808 | 0.20 |
Every recorded year (143)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 389 | #730 | 0.22 |
| 2014 | 421 | #676 | 0.24 |
| 2013 | 451 | #620 | 0.26 |
| 2012 | 404 | #698 | 0.23 |
| 2011 | 473 | #609 | 0.27 |
| 2010 | 460 | #643 | 0.26 |
| 2009 | 663 | #468 | 0.36 |
| 2008 | 681 | #464 | 0.36 |
| 2007 | 579 | #539 | 0.30 |
| 2006 | 531 | #554 | 0.28 |
| 2005 | 522 | #550 | 0.28 |
| 2004 | 570 | #508 | 0.31 |
| 2003 | 568 | #503 | 0.31 |
| 2002 | 584 | #481 | 0.33 |
| 2001 | 604 | #459 | 0.34 |
| 2000 | 732 | #393 | 0.40 |
| 1999 | 728 | #386 | 0.41 |
| 1998 | 807 | #359 | 0.46 |
| 1997 | 819 | #343 | 0.47 |
| 1996 | 862 | #324 | 0.49 |
| 1995 | 900 | #309 | 0.51 |
| 1994 | 1,026 | #273 | 0.57 |
| 1993 | 1,106 | #251 | 0.61 |
| 1992 | 1,125 | #248 | 0.61 |
| 1991 | 1,259 | #228 | 0.67 |
| 1990 | 1,212 | #234 | 0.64 |
| 1989 | 1,275 | #211 | 0.69 |
| 1988 | 1,268 | #207 | 0.71 |
| 1987 | 1,232 | #213 | 0.71 |
| 1986 | 1,338 | #194 | 0.78 |
| 1985 | 1,465 | #184 | 0.85 |
| 1984 | 1,440 | #191 | 0.86 |
| 1983 | 1,394 | #191 | 0.83 |
| 1982 | 1,328 | #204 | 0.78 |
| 1981 | 1,261 | #209 | 0.76 |
| 1980 | 1,276 | #203 | 0.77 |
| 1979 | 1,247 | #211 | 0.78 |
| 1978 | 1,346 | #191 | 0.88 |
| 1977 | 1,411 | #189 | 0.92 |
| 1976 | 1,103 | #219 | 0.75 |
| 1975 | 1,192 | #207 | 0.82 |
| 1974 | 1,074 | #235 | 0.73 |
| 1973 | 847 | #286 | 0.58 |
| 1972 | 722 | #324 | 0.47 |
| 1971 | 755 | #337 | 0.45 |
| 1970 | 716 | #351 | 0.41 |
| 1969 | 636 | #367 | 0.38 |
| 1968 | 508 | #414 | 0.31 |
| 1967 | 604 | #366 | 0.37 |
| 1966 | 677 | #347 | 0.40 |
| 1965 | 987 | #274 | 0.56 |
| 1964 | 663 | #366 | 0.35 |
| 1963 | 682 | #368 | 0.35 |
| 1962 | 448 | #455 | 0.23 |
| 1961 | 340 | #531 | 0.17 |
| 1960 | 234 | #663 | 0.12 |
| 1959 | 200 | #706 | 0.10 |
| 1958 | 134 | #877 | 0.07 |
| 1957 | 165 | #781 | 0.08 |
| 1956 | 172 | #736 | 0.09 |
| 1955 | 154 | #772 | 0.08 |
| 1954 | 124 | #846 | 0.06 |
| 1953 | 101 | #939 | 0.05 |
| 1952 | 87 | #1,007 | 0.05 |
| 1951 | 84 | #1,014 | 0.05 |
| 1950 | 70 | #1,100 | 0.04 |
| 1949 | 72 | #1,057 | 0.04 |
| 1948 | 51 | #1,286 | 0.03 |
| 1947 | 53 | #1,239 | 0.03 |
| 1946 | 47 | #1,256 | 0.03 |
| 1945 | 46 | #1,156 | 0.04 |
| 1944 | 41 | #1,237 | 0.03 |
| 1943 | 54 | #1,088 | 0.04 |
| 1942 | 48 | #1,140 | 0.04 |
| 1941 | 44 | #1,120 | 0.04 |
| 1940 | 36 | #1,221 | 0.03 |
| 1939 | 26 | #1,477 | 0.02 |
| 1938 | 38 | #1,185 | 0.03 |
| 1937 | 45 | #1,064 | 0.04 |
| 1936 | 39 | #1,137 | 0.04 |
| 1935 | 27 | #1,422 | 0.03 |
| 1934 | 37 | #1,170 | 0.04 |
| 1933 | 22 | #1,613 | 0.02 |
| 1932 | 28 | #1,424 | 0.03 |
| 1931 | 15 | #2,120 | 0.01 |
| 1930 | 28 | #1,464 | 0.02 |
| 1929 | 30 | #1,393 | 0.03 |
| 1928 | 20 | #1,909 | 0.02 |
| 1927 | 25 | #1,683 | 0.02 |
| 1926 | 43 | #1,169 | 0.04 |
| 1925 | 27 | #1,613 | 0.02 |
| 1924 | 30 | #1,536 | 0.02 |
| 1923 | 33 | #1,394 | 0.03 |
| 1922 | 34 | #1,372 | 0.03 |
| 1921 | 21 | #1,932 | 0.02 |
| 1920 | 18 | #2,085 | 0.02 |
| 1919 | 19 | #1,928 | 0.02 |
| 1918 | 33 | #1,336 | 0.03 |
| 1917 | 23 | #1,610 | 0.02 |
| 1916 | 27 | #1,411 | 0.03 |
| 1915 | 30 | #1,289 | 0.03 |
| 1914 | 19 | #1,492 | 0.02 |
| 1913 | 21 | #1,234 | 0.03 |
| 1912 | 16 | #1,360 | 0.03 |
| 1911 | 12 | #1,382 | 0.03 |
| 1910 | 19 | #1,004 | 0.05 |
| 1909 | 12 | #1,228 | 0.03 |
| 1908 | 12 | #1,216 | 0.04 |
| 1907 | 16 | #951 | 0.05 |
| 1906 | 11 | #1,163 | 0.04 |
| 1905 | 7 | #1,559 | 0.02 |
| 1904 | 11 | #1,101 | 0.04 |
| 1903 | 9 | #1,220 | 0.03 |
| 1902 | 11 | #1,079 | 0.04 |
| 1901 | 7 | #1,361 | 0.03 |
| 1900 | 17 | #923 | 0.06 |
| 1899 | 11 | #991 | 0.05 |
| 1898 | 16 | #845 | 0.06 |
| 1897 | 11 | #991 | 0.05 |
| 1896 | 8 | #1,223 | 0.03 |
| 1895 | 12 | #937 | 0.05 |
| 1894 | 8 | #1,145 | 0.04 |
| 1892 | 7 | #1,185 | 0.03 |
| 1891 | 11 | #848 | 0.06 |
| 1890 | 7 | #1,113 | 0.04 |
| 1889 | 7 | #1,038 | 0.04 |
| 1888 | 9 | #905 | 0.05 |
| 1887 | 10 | #739 | 0.07 |
| 1886 | 6 | #1,004 | 0.04 |
| 1885 | 12 | #631 | 0.09 |
| 1884 | 8 | #799 | 0.06 |
| 1883 | 6 | #835 | 0.05 |
| 1882 | 5 | #928 | 0.05 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Cara a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Cara has been given almost only to girls: 62 boys in 143 years of records.
Girls and boys named Cara: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Cara, and how old are they?
49,900 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 93% of the 53,367 Americans ever recorded as Cara. The median Cara alive today is 40 years old; half are between 28 and 50.
The 2020 Census counted 48,443 people named Cara (48,350 women and girls, 93 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 49,452 born in the U.S. The Census count is 2% below that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 210 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 3,210 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 14,100 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 19,000 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 9,620 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 3,740 |
An estimate, not a count. SSA’s files count people born in the United States who received a Social Security number, so anyone born abroad is not in them; before 1937 most people got a number as adults, and their survival is counted from that age.
Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).
Where are babies named Cara born?
The states with the most babies named Cara are California, New York and Texas, with 24% of its births recorded by state since 1910.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 4,337 | #1,191 | 0.7× |
| New York | 4,096 | #867 | 1.1× |
| Texas | 3,272 | #2,441 | 0.8× |
| Pennsylvania | 3,142 | #1,033 | 1.3× |
| Ohio | 2,910 | #1,048 | 1.2× |
| Illinois | 2,660 | #1,140 | 1.0× |
| New Jersey | 1,992 | #728 | 1.3× |
| Michigan | 1,864 | #1,249 | 0.9× |
| Florida | 1,794 | #2,224 | 0.8× |
| Massachusetts | 1,760 | #903 | 1.3× |
Where Cara is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Cara is most over-represented in Massachusetts: since 1910 it was given 1.3 times as often there as its national share each year would predict.
States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among girls’ names in the state in 2025. The file leaves out any state and year with fewer than 5 babies of the name, so small states are undercounted; each ratio compares the state’s births of Cara with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names spelled alike
Of these 8 names spelled alike, given to 243,467 babies since 1880, Cara is the third most given (22% of them). In 2025 it was given to 168 of their 675 babies (25%), the second most given that year.
Spelled alike: names in the SSA national file with the same pattern of letters and sounds and at most two letters apart, and Wiktionary’s listed forms; births since 1880 and in 2025, and each name’s peak year, from the SSA national file, published May 8, 2026. Some are separate names, not spellings of one.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Cara
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
More about Cara and names like it
- Compare Cara and KaraBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1980sCara peaked in 1985.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Cara since 1910.
- Coined namesWiktionary’s origin for Cara: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 1985The year the most babies were named Cara.
- The names of the MillennialsMost people named Cara alive today were born 1981-1996.
- Names starting with CMost given first.