Camellia
A feminine name of Latinized origin referring to the camellia flower.
Name Census estimates that about 2,777 living Americans carry the first name Camellia. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Camellia today is around 31 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Camellia births was 2024 (138 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Camellia. 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 Camellia with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
2.8K
~ 1 in 123,426 Americans
Peak year
2024
138 babies that year
Average age
31
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,539
Tracked since 1921
Census
Camellia in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 2,146 people with the first name Camellia, which placed it at #7,179 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
#7,179
National first-name rank
People counted
2.1K
2,146 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.7
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
52.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Camellia
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Camellia is White at 52.1%. The next largest groups are Black (23.0%) and Hispanic (9.6%). 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 Camellia 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 Camellia at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White52.1% · 1,119
- Black or African American23.0% · 493
- Hispanic or Latino9.6% · 207
- Asian and Pacific Islander7.6% · 164
- Two or more races6.7% · 144
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.9% · 19
Popularity
Camellia: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Camellia from the 1920s through to the 2020s, spanning 11 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 664 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Camellia 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 Camellia during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Camellias live
The SSA's state-level files cover 19 states and territories. California, Texas, Florida recorded the most babies named Camellia, while Virginia, Tennessee, Oregon recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 44 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Camellia
The name Camellia is derived from the camellia flower, which is native to eastern and southern Asia. The flower was first introduced to Europe in the early 17th century, and its botanical name "Camellia" honors the Jesuit botanist Georg Joseph Kamel, who is credited with bringing the flower to the attention of Europeans.
The use of Camellia as a given name likely originated in the late 18th or early 19th century, when botanical names became popular choices for baby names, particularly among the upper classes. One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Camellia is found in the 1807 novel "Corinne, or Italy" by Madame de Staël, where a character named Camille is referred to as Camellia.
In the 19th century, the name gained popularity in England and other parts of Europe, as well as in the United States. One notable bearer of the name was Camellia Metcalf (1873-1957), an American silent film actress and screenwriter who appeared in several films in the early 20th century.
Another early bearer of the name was Camellia Panjabi (1882-1928), an Indian social reformer and women's rights activist who played a significant role in the women's movement in British India. She was one of the founders of the Bharat Stree Mahamandal, an organization dedicated to improving the status of women.
In the world of literature, Camellia appears as the name of a character in the novel "The Ambassadors" by Henry James, published in 1903. The character, described as a young American woman, plays a significant role in the novel's plot.
Another notable Camellia was Camellia Gere (1888-1972), a British actress and writer who appeared in several plays and films in the early 20th century. She also published several novels and autobiographical works.
While the name Camellia may not have been as widely used as some other floral names, it has a rich history and has been borne by several notable individuals throughout the centuries.
People
Camellia + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Camellia 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
Camellia: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Camellia?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2,777 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Camellia 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 123,426 US residents.
Is Camellia a common name?
We classify Camellia as "Rare". It ranks above 94.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 3,224 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Camellia most popular?
The single biggest year for Camellia was 2024, when 138 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Camellia is about 31 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Camellia in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 2,146 people with the name Camellia, or 0.71 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #7,179 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 Camellia 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 Camellia?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Camellia appears almost entirely female. Of the 2,141 people counted with this name, 100.0% 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 Camellia?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Camellia is White at 52.1%. The next largest groups are Black (23.0%) and Hispanic (9.6%). 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 Camellia most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Camellia in the 2020 Census, accounting for 52.1% (1,119 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 Camellia in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Camellia a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Camellia 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 Camellia still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Camellia 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 Camellia 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 Americans are named Camellia?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.