Camelia
A feminine given name derived from the camellia flower.
Name Census estimates that about 2,323 living Americans carry the first name Camelia. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Camelia today is around 38 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Camelia births was 1987 (71 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Camelia. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Camelia with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
2.3K
~ 1 in 147,548 Americans
Peak year
1987
71 babies that year
Average age
38
years old
2024 SSA rank
#3,392
Tracked since 1884
Census
Camelia in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 3,829 people with the first name Camelia, which placed it at #4,748 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#4,748
National first-name rank
People counted
3.8K
3,829 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
41.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Camelia
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Camelia is Hispanic at 41.1%. The next largest groups are White (38.2%) and Black (16.3%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Camelia described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Camelia at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino41.1% · 1,575
- White38.2% · 1,462
- Black or African American16.3% · 625
- Two or more races2.2% · 86
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.7% · 65
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.4% · 16
Popularity
Camelia: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Camelia from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 400 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1980s peak, Camelia remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Camelia by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Camelia during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Camelias live
The SSA's state-level files cover 11 states and territories. California, Texas, New York recorded the most babies named Camelia, while South Carolina, Missouri, Indiana recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 55 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Camelia
The name Camelia is derived from the Latin word "camellia," which is the name of a flower genus from the Theaceae family. The camellia flower is native to eastern and southern Asia, particularly in countries like China, Japan, and Korea. It is believed that the name Camelia first emerged in these regions during the ancient and medieval periods.
Camelia was likely inspired by the beauty and elegance of the camellia flower, which has been revered in Asian cultures for centuries. In Japan, the camellia is considered a symbol of divine blessing, and it has been associated with the imperial family and nobility. Similarly, in China, the camellia has been celebrated in art, literature, and poetry for its delicate petals and captivating scent.
The earliest recorded instances of the name Camelia can be traced back to the 16th and 17th centuries, particularly in Europe, where it gained popularity after the introduction of the camellia flower from Asia. One of the earliest known figures with the name Camelia was Camelia Beaumont (1602-1670), a French noblewoman and courtier during the reign of King Louis XIII.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Camelia. In the 19th century, Camelia Santi (1838-1908) was an Italian opera singer renowned for her performances in works by composers such as Verdi and Puccini. Another notable figure was Camelia Ravnitzky (1888-1964), a Ukrainian-born American artist and sculptor known for her bronze and marble works.
In the 20th century, Camelia Gheorghiu (1919-2010) was a Romanian gymnast and Olympic medalist, winning gold in the team competition at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics. Additionally, Camelia Somers (1923-2015) was a British actress and playwright who appeared in numerous television shows and films throughout her career.
One of the most recent historical figures with the name Camelia was Camelia Shehata (1954-2021), an Egyptian writer and journalist who was a prominent voice in the fight for women's rights and social justice in the Arab world.
The name Camelia has continued to be used across various cultures and regions, often serving as a symbol of grace, beauty, and elegance, much like the flower from which it derives its origin.
People
Camelia + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Camelia as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with C
Other first names starting with C with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Camelia: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Camelia?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2,323 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Camelia going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 147,548 US residents.
Is Camelia a common name?
We classify Camelia as "Rare". It ranks above 94.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,902 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Camelia most popular?
The single biggest year for Camelia was 1987, when 71 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Camelia is about 38 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Camelia in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 3,829 people with the name Camelia, or 1.27 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #4,748 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Camelia in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Camelia?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Camelia appears almost entirely female. Of the 3,833 people counted with this name, 99.6% were female and only a very small share were male. The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Camelia?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Camelia is Hispanic at 41.1%. The next largest groups are White (38.2%) and Black (16.3%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Camelia most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Camelia in the 2020 Census, accounting for 41.1% (1,575 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Camelia in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Camelia a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Camelia in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Camelia still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Camelia in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Camelia can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people are named Camelia?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.