Camila
A feminine name of Spanish origin meaning "young ceremonial attendant".
Roughly 116,232 people in the United States go by the first name Camila, which ranks #11 nationally when sorted by estimated living bearers. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Camila today is around 10 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Camila births was 2020 (8,170 babies). In terms of living bearers, it sits close to Vivian (115,638).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Camila. 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 Camila with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Camila is used almost entirely for girls, the SSA data does show 114 boys registered with the name since 1880.
- • Camila is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 10 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
116K
~ 1 in 2,949 Americans
Peak year
2020
8,170 babies that year
Average age
10
years old
2024 SSA rank
#11
Tracked since 1914
Census
Camila in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 72,541 people with the first name Camila, which placed it at #707 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
#707
National first-name rank
People counted
73K
72,541 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
24.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
90.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Camila
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Camila is Hispanic at 90.1%. The next largest groups are White (7.4%) and Black (1.0%). 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 Camila 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 Camila at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino90.1% · 65,324
- White7.4% · 5,361
- Black or African American1.0% · 693
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.8% · 578
- Two or more races0.7% · 480
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.1% · 105
Gender
Gender distribution for Camila
Out of the 117,342 babies given the name Camila since 1880, 99.9% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Camila as a male name
- Ranked #7,825 in 2024
- 10 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2018 (10 births)
Camila as a female name
- Ranked #11 in 2024
- 7,608 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2020 (8,164 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Camila appears almost entirely female. Of the 72,537 people counted with this name, 99.7% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Camila: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Camila from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 57,951 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Camila remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Camila 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 Camila during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Camilas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 50 states and territories. California, Texas, Florida recorded the most babies named Camila, while Montana, Maine, Wyoming recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 2,316 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Camila
The name Camila has its origins in Latin and is a feminine form of the name Camillus, an old Roman family name. Camillus is derived from the Latin word "camillus" which means "attendant in a religious ceremony" or "acolyte".
The name Camila emerged during the Middle Ages across parts of Europe, particularly in Italy, Spain, and Portugal. It is believed that the name was introduced to these regions through the influence of the Roman Empire and the spread of Christianity.
One of the earliest recorded mentions of the name Camila can be found in the Italian Renaissance epic poem "Orlando Furioso" written by Ludovico Ariosto in the early 16th century. In the poem, Camilla is a fierce warrior princess who leads an army of women.
Another notable historical figure with the name Camila was Camilla Faà di Bruno, an Italian mathematician and pioneer in the field of calculus who lived from 1834 to 1899. Her work on the theory of elliptic functions and the calculation of determinants was influential in the development of modern mathematics.
In the realm of literature, Camila Batmanghelidjh is a British-Iranian writer and social entrepreneur born in 1963. She founded the charity Kids Company, which provided support services to vulnerable children and young people in London.
Camila Cabello, born in 1997, is a Cuban-American singer and songwriter who rose to fame as a member of the girl group Fifth Harmony before launching a successful solo career. Her debut album "Camila" was released in 2018 and featured hits like "Havana" and "Never Be the Same".
Camila Alves, born in 1982, is a Brazilian-American model, designer, and entrepreneur. She is married to actor Matthew McConaughey and has appeared in various fashion campaigns and TV shows, as well as launching her own lifestyle and fashion brand.
It is worth noting that while the name Camila has its roots in Latin and has been used throughout history, it has gained widespread popularity in recent times, particularly in Spanish-speaking countries and among Spanish-speaking communities around the world.
People
Camila + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Camila 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
Camila: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Camila?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 116,232 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Camila 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 2,949 US residents.
Is Camila a common name?
We classify Camila as "Common". It ranks above 99.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 117,342 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Camila most popular?
The single biggest year for Camila was 2020, when 8,170 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Camila is about 10 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Camila in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 72,541 people with the name Camila, or 24.02 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #707 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 Camila 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 Camila?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Camila appears almost entirely female. Of the 72,537 people counted with this name, 99.7% 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 Camila?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Camila is Hispanic at 90.1%. The next largest groups are White (7.4%) and Black (1.0%). 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 Camila most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Camila in the 2020 Census, accounting for 90.1% (65,324 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 Camila in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Camila a female name?
Yes, 99.9% of people registered as Camila 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 Camila still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Camila 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 Camila 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 Camila?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many people have the name Camila at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.