Carmel
A feminine name of Hebrew origin meaning "garden" or "fertile land".
Name Census estimates that about 3,940 living Americans carry the first name Carmel. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 83.9% of registrations being female. The average person named Carmel today is around 55 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Carmel births was 1924 (189 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Carmel. 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 Carmel with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
3.9K
~ 1 in 86,993 Americans
Peak year
1924
189 babies that year
Average age
55
years old
2024 SSA rank
#4,782
Tracked since 1888
Census
Carmel in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 5,676 people with the first name Carmel, which placed it at #3,607 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
#3,607
National first-name rank
People counted
5.7K
5,676 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.9
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
62.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Carmel
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Carmel is White at 62.4%. The next largest groups are Black (17.4%) and Hispanic (11.6%). 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 Carmel 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 Carmel at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White62.4% · 3,539
- Black or African American17.4% · 985
- Hispanic or Latino11.6% · 661
- Asian and Pacific Islander5.2% · 294
- Two or more races2.7% · 153
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.8% · 44
Gender
Gender distribution for Carmel
Carmel leans heavily female at 83.9% of total registrations, but 1,382 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Carmel as a male name
- Ranked #11,133 in 2024
- 6 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1918 (49 births)
Carmel as a female name
- Ranked #4,782 in 2024
- 28 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1962 (155 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Carmel leans strongly female. 5,026 people counted with this name were female (88.7%), compared with 638 male bearers (11.3%).
Popularity
Carmel: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Carmel from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 1,517 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1920s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Carmel 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 Carmel during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Carmels live
The SSA's state-level files cover 30 states and territories. California, New York, Texas recorded the most babies named Carmel, while Vermont, Tennessee, North Dakota recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 123 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Carmel
The name Carmel is derived from the Hebrew word "kerem-el", which means "vineyard of God". It is believed to have originated in ancient Israel during the biblical era, around the 1st millennium BCE.
Carmel is mentioned several times in the Bible, most notably as the name of a mountain range in northern Israel. In the Old Testament, Mount Carmel is described as a place of fertility and beauty, often associated with vineyards and orchards. The prophet Elijah is said to have had a confrontation with the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel, where he proved the supremacy of the God of Israel.
One of the earliest recorded uses of Carmel as a personal name can be found in the Book of 1 Chronicles, which mentions a man named Carmel who was one of the sons of Hebron. However, it is unclear whether this was a common name during ancient times or if it was used primarily as a geographical reference.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals named Carmel. One of the earliest was Carmel Agresti (1420-1495), an Italian Renaissance painter and architect from Milan. He is best known for his work on the Certosa di Pavia, a famous monastery and church in northern Italy.
In the 17th century, Carmel Gerson (1620-1699) was a Dutch rabbi and scholar who wrote extensively on Jewish law and philosophy. He is particularly renowned for his commentary on the Mishnah, a central text in Jewish religious literature.
During the 19th century, Carmel Buckingham (1811-1888) was an American physician and botanist. She was one of the first women to receive a medical degree in the United States and was known for her work in promoting the use of native plants for medicinal purposes.
In the 20th century, Carmel Budiardjo (1925-2021) was an Indonesian human rights activist and political prisoner. She spent several years in prison for her opposition to the Suharto regime and later founded the Indonesian Human Rights Commission.
Another notable figure was Carmel Quinn (1938-2022), an Irish actress and singer who appeared in numerous films, television shows, and stage productions throughout her career. She was particularly well-known for her role in the long-running Irish soap opera, Fair City.
People
Carmel + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Carmel 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
Carmel: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Carmel?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 3,940 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Carmel 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 86,993 US residents.
Is Carmel a common name?
We classify Carmel as "Rare". It ranks above 96% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 8,572 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Carmel most popular?
The single biggest year for Carmel was 1924, when 189 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Carmel is about 55 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Carmel in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 5,676 people with the name Carmel, or 1.88 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #3,607 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 Carmel 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 Carmel?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Carmel leans strongly female. 5,026 people counted with this name were female (88.7%), compared with 638 male bearers (11.3%). 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 Carmel?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Carmel is White at 62.4%. The next largest groups are Black (17.4%) and Hispanic (11.6%). 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 Carmel most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Carmel in the 2020 Census, accounting for 62.4% (3,539 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 Carmel in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Carmel a female name?
Yes, 83.9% of people registered as Carmel 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 Carmel still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Carmel 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 Carmel 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 Carmel?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.