Carmela
Carmela was given to 186 girls in 2025, #1,219 among girls’ names; 24,511 Americans have been recorded with it since 1882 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 10,700 Americans named Carmela and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (44% of everyone recorded); the median is 53 years old and half are between 22 and 68.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Carmela by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Carmela mean?
Wiktionary, Spanish section
Carmela is “a diminutive of the female given name Carmen”
From Galician Carmela.
/kaɾˈmela/
Meaning: Wiktionary, Spanish section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Carmela?
#1,219 among girls’ names, 2025
Carmela rose from #1,832 in 2015 to #1,219 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born rose from 0.06 to 0.12 per 1,000.
586 babies in 1923, the peak
Carmela peaked in 1923, when 586 girls were given it, #266 among girls’ names. The 186 births of 2025 are 32% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 186 | #1,219 | 0.12 |
| 2024 | 208 | #1,157 | 0.13 |
| 2023 | 153 | #1,456 | 0.10 |
| 2022 | 131 | #1,614 | 0.08 |
| 2021 | 135 | #1,555 | 0.08 |
| 2020 | 138 | #1,537 | 0.09 |
| 2019 | 149 | #1,477 | 0.09 |
| 2018 | 115 | #1,777 | 0.07 |
| 2017 | 114 | #1,816 | 0.07 |
| 2016 | 117 | #1,779 | 0.07 |
Every recorded year (139)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 113 | #1,832 | 0.06 |
| 2014 | 124 | #1,694 | 0.07 |
| 2013 | 117 | #1,755 | 0.07 |
| 2012 | 87 | #2,164 | 0.05 |
| 2011 | 101 | #1,955 | 0.06 |
| 2010 | 94 | #2,097 | 0.05 |
| 2009 | 115 | #1,850 | 0.06 |
| 2008 | 113 | #1,882 | 0.06 |
| 2007 | 119 | #1,793 | 0.06 |
| 2006 | 124 | #1,695 | 0.07 |
| 2005 | 124 | #1,624 | 0.07 |
| 2004 | 110 | #1,748 | 0.06 |
| 2003 | 98 | #1,875 | 0.05 |
| 2002 | 78 | #2,144 | 0.04 |
| 2001 | 68 | #2,333 | 0.04 |
| 2000 | 56 | #2,632 | 0.03 |
| 1999 | 79 | #1,977 | 0.04 |
| 1998 | 55 | #2,499 | 0.03 |
| 1997 | 59 | #2,284 | 0.03 |
| 1996 | 63 | #2,152 | 0.04 |
| 1995 | 69 | #1,981 | 0.04 |
| 1994 | 65 | #2,100 | 0.04 |
| 1993 | 58 | #2,236 | 0.03 |
| 1992 | 78 | #1,829 | 0.04 |
| 1991 | 67 | #2,030 | 0.04 |
| 1990 | 81 | #1,778 | 0.04 |
| 1989 | 83 | #1,649 | 0.05 |
| 1988 | 78 | #1,661 | 0.04 |
| 1987 | 72 | #1,683 | 0.04 |
| 1986 | 73 | #1,623 | 0.04 |
| 1985 | 94 | #1,372 | 0.05 |
| 1984 | 67 | #1,637 | 0.04 |
| 1983 | 85 | #1,391 | 0.05 |
| 1982 | 107 | #1,230 | 0.06 |
| 1981 | 104 | #1,249 | 0.06 |
| 1980 | 132 | #1,069 | 0.08 |
| 1979 | 100 | #1,272 | 0.06 |
| 1978 | 116 | #1,119 | 0.08 |
| 1977 | 114 | #1,118 | 0.07 |
| 1976 | 134 | #950 | 0.09 |
| 1975 | 162 | #831 | 0.11 |
| 1974 | 142 | #896 | 0.10 |
| 1973 | 141 | #890 | 0.10 |
| 1972 | 151 | #855 | 0.10 |
| 1971 | 164 | #837 | 0.10 |
| 1970 | 176 | #795 | 0.10 |
| 1969 | 199 | #714 | 0.12 |
| 1968 | 182 | #727 | 0.11 |
| 1967 | 205 | #671 | 0.12 |
| 1966 | 195 | #701 | 0.12 |
| 1965 | 192 | #715 | 0.11 |
| 1964 | 225 | #683 | 0.12 |
| 1963 | 206 | #711 | 0.11 |
| 1962 | 253 | #635 | 0.13 |
| 1961 | 221 | #705 | 0.11 |
| 1960 | 213 | #697 | 0.11 |
| 1959 | 219 | #675 | 0.11 |
| 1958 | 190 | #715 | 0.09 |
| 1957 | 181 | #740 | 0.09 |
| 1956 | 183 | #706 | 0.09 |
| 1955 | 148 | #787 | 0.08 |
| 1954 | 141 | #788 | 0.07 |
| 1953 | 148 | #748 | 0.08 |
| 1952 | 174 | #669 | 0.09 |
| 1951 | 153 | #705 | 0.08 |
| 1950 | 183 | #626 | 0.11 |
| 1949 | 161 | #659 | 0.09 |
| 1948 | 172 | #629 | 0.10 |
| 1947 | 176 | #631 | 0.10 |
| 1946 | 154 | #635 | 0.10 |
| 1945 | 156 | #585 | 0.12 |
| 1944 | 141 | #616 | 0.11 |
| 1943 | 203 | #526 | 0.15 |
| 1942 | 196 | #529 | 0.15 |
| 1941 | 176 | #527 | 0.15 |
| 1940 | 196 | #490 | 0.17 |
| 1939 | 198 | #473 | 0.18 |
| 1938 | 209 | #466 | 0.19 |
| 1937 | 209 | #452 | 0.20 |
| 1936 | 233 | #425 | 0.22 |
| 1935 | 252 | #406 | 0.24 |
| 1934 | 275 | #388 | 0.26 |
| 1933 | 305 | #363 | 0.30 |
| 1932 | 384 | #325 | 0.36 |
| 1931 | 363 | #334 | 0.34 |
| 1930 | 457 | #311 | 0.41 |
| 1929 | 498 | #292 | 0.45 |
| 1928 | 499 | #300 | 0.43 |
| 1927 | 529 | #292 | 0.44 |
| 1926 | 524 | #292 | 0.44 |
| 1925 | 565 | #280 | 0.46 |
| 1924 | 578 | #273 | 0.46 |
| 1923 | 586 | #266 | 0.49 |
| 1922 | 574 | #271 | 0.48 |
| 1921 | 564 | #279 | 0.46 |
| 1920 | 513 | #290 | 0.43 |
| 1919 | 480 | #291 | 0.42 |
| 1918 | 517 | #277 | 0.45 |
| 1917 | 479 | #281 | 0.44 |
| 1916 | 451 | #279 | 0.43 |
| 1915 | 430 | #281 | 0.44 |
| 1914 | 341 | #284 | 0.45 |
| 1913 | 238 | #306 | 0.38 |
| 1912 | 213 | #314 | 0.38 |
| 1911 | 172 | #302 | 0.41 |
| 1910 | 140 | #330 | 0.35 |
| 1909 | 106 | #351 | 0.31 |
| 1908 | 105 | #349 | 0.31 |
| 1907 | 113 | #324 | 0.35 |
| 1906 | 94 | #342 | 0.32 |
| 1905 | 88 | #357 | 0.30 |
| 1904 | 78 | #372 | 0.28 |
| 1903 | 69 | #381 | 0.26 |
| 1902 | 61 | #399 | 0.23 |
| 1901 | 44 | #449 | 0.18 |
| 1900 | 57 | #441 | 0.19 |
| 1899 | 49 | #418 | 0.21 |
| 1898 | 38 | #502 | 0.15 |
| 1897 | 32 | #522 | 0.14 |
| 1896 | 33 | #519 | 0.14 |
| 1895 | 37 | #481 | 0.16 |
| 1894 | 31 | #518 | 0.14 |
| 1893 | 19 | #665 | 0.09 |
| 1892 | 14 | #802 | 0.07 |
| 1891 | 18 | #627 | 0.10 |
| 1890 | 9 | #951 | 0.05 |
| 1889 | 15 | #663 | 0.08 |
| 1888 | 17 | #615 | 0.10 |
| 1882 | 5 | #929 | 0.05 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Carmela a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Carmela has been given almost only to girls: 5 boys in 139 years of records.
Girls and boys named Carmela: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Carmela, and how old are they?
10,700 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 44% of the 24,511 Americans ever recorded as Carmela. The median Carmela alive today is 53 years old; half are between 22 and 68.
The 2020 Census counted 18,223 people named Carmela (18,174 women and girls, 49 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 11,329 born in the U.S. The Census count is 1.6 times that prediction. Possible reasons: the Census counts people born abroad, whom SSA’s files leave out, and it records the name people give, which SSA may have recorded under another spelling or as part of a compound name.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 1,150 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 2,740 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 2,310 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 1,210 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 1,470 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 1,790 |
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 Carmela born?
The states with the most babies named Carmela are New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, with 69% of its births recorded by state since 1910; New Jersey is not among the ten states with the most births.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| New York | 9,299 | #521 | 4.6× |
| New Jersey | 2,251 | #351 | 3.2× |
| Pennsylvania | 1,868 | #658 | 1.1× |
| California | 1,320 | #1,285 | 0.8× |
| Texas | 920 | #2,443 | 0.6× |
| Massachusetts | 852 | #574 | 1.2× |
| Connecticut | 757 | #302 | 2.4× |
| Illinois | 678 | #944 | 0.6× |
| Ohio | 556 | #754 | 0.5× |
| Florida | 192 | #1,732 | 0.3× |
Where Carmela is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Carmela is most over-represented in New York: since 1910 it was given 4.6 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 Carmela 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 47,488 babies since 1880, Carmela is the most given (52% of them). In 2025 it was given to 186 of their 388 babies (48%), again the most given.
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 Carmela
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 Carmela and names like it
- Compare Carmela and CarmellaBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1920sCarmela peaked in 1923.
- New York’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Carmela since 1910.
- Spanish namesWiktionary’s origin for Carmela: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 1923The year the most babies were named Carmela.
- The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Carmela alive today were born 1946-1964.
- Names starting with CMost given first.