Camilla
A feminine name of Latin origin meaning "attendant at a ritual".
Name Census estimates that about 23,709 living Americans carry the first name Camilla. It sits at #324 in the overall ranking, outside the top 50 but still well-represented. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Camilla today is around 23 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Camilla births was 2019 (1,224 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Camilla. 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 Camilla with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
24K
~ 1 in 14,457 Americans
Peak year
2019
1,224 babies that year
Average age
23
years old
1918 SSA rank
#324
Tracked since 1880
Census
Camilla in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 21,840 people with the first name Camilla, which placed it at #1,515 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
#1,515
National first-name rank
People counted
22K
21,840 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
7.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
46.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Camilla
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Camilla is White at 46.7%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (34.7%) and Black (10.6%). 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 Camilla 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 Camilla at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White46.7% · 10,193
- Hispanic or Latino34.7% · 7,580
- Black or African American10.6% · 2,321
- Two or more races4.1% · 902
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.4% · 733
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.5% · 111
Gender
Gender distribution for Camilla
Out of the 29,426 babies given the name Camilla since 1880, 100.0% 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.
Camilla as a male name
- Ranked #3,788 in 1918
- 6 male births in 1918
- Peak: 1918 (6 births)
Camilla as a female name
- Ranked #324 in 2024
- 951 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2019 (1,224 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Camilla appears almost entirely female. Of the 21,840 people counted with this name, 99.8% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Camilla: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Camilla from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 8,840 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Camilla remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Camilla 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 Camilla during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Camillas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 47 states and territories. California, Texas, New York recorded the most babies named Camilla, while North Dakota, Alaska, South Dakota recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 484 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Camilla
The name Camilla has its origins in the ancient Latin language. It is derived from the word camillus, which referred to a youth who assisted priests during religious ceremonies. The name likely arose in ancient Rome, where it was associated with servitude or attendants of the priestly class.
One of the earliest known references to the name Camilla comes from Virgil's Aeneid, an epic poem dating back to around 19 BC. In the poem, Camilla is a fierce warrior maiden who fights alongside the forces of Turnus against Aeneas. Her portrayal as a skilled huntress and fighter was quite unusual for women of that era.
During the Middle Ages, the name Camilla remained relatively uncommon but was occasionally used among the nobility and upper classes. One notable bearer of the name was Camilla Faà, an Italian noblewoman born in the late 16th century, who was known for her poetry and literary works.
In the 17th century, the name gained some popularity in England, particularly among the aristocracy. One famous Camilla was Camilla Colville (1601-1671), an English courtier and lady-in-waiting to Queen Henrietta Maria.
The 18th century saw the rise of Camilla Luigia Dufour Crosland (1812-1895), an Italian-born English author and translator who was instrumental in introducing the works of Italian writers to English audiences.
Another notable bearer of the name was Camilla Ravera (1889-1988), an Italian communist activist and politician who played a significant role in the resistance against fascism during World War II.
In more recent times, the name Camilla has been associated with Camilla Parker Bowles (born 1947), the second wife of King Charles III of the United Kingdom. Her public profile has likely contributed to the name's renewed popularity in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.
People
Camilla + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Camilla 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
Camilla: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Camilla?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 23,709 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Camilla 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 14,457 US residents.
Is Camilla a common name?
We classify Camilla as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 29,426 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Camilla most popular?
The single biggest year for Camilla was 2019, when 1,224 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Camilla is about 23 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Camilla in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 21,840 people with the name Camilla, or 7.23 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,515 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 Camilla 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 Camilla?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Camilla appears almost entirely female. Of the 21,840 people counted with this name, 99.8% 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 Camilla?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Camilla is White at 46.7%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (34.7%) and Black (10.6%). 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 Camilla most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Camilla in the 2020 Census, accounting for 46.7% (10,193 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 Camilla in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Camilla a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Camilla 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 Camilla still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Camilla 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 Camilla 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 have Camilla as a first name?
If you just want to know how many people have the name Camilla, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.