Carmela
A feminine Latin name meaning "a planter or pruner of the vineyard".
Name Census estimates that about 9,874 living Americans carry the first name Carmela. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Carmela today is around 47 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Carmela births was 1923 (586 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Carmela. 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 Carmela with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
9.9K
~ 1 in 34,713 Americans
Peak year
1923
586 babies that year
Average age
47
years old
1984 SSA rank
#1,155
Tracked since 1882
Census
Carmela in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 18,229 people with the first name Carmela, which placed it at #1,696 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
#1,696
National first-name rank
People counted
18K
18,229 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
6.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
56.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Carmela
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Carmela is White at 56.6%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (31.2%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (6.0%). 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 Carmela 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 Carmela at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White56.6% · 10,309
- Hispanic or Latino31.2% · 5,681
- Asian and Pacific Islander6.0% · 1,096
- Black or African American4.5% · 822
- Two or more races1.5% · 265
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.3% · 56
Gender
Gender distribution for Carmela
Out of the 24,323 babies given the name Carmela 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.
Carmela as a male name
- Ranked #6,453 in 1984
- 5 male births in 1984
- Peak: 1984 (5 births)
Carmela as a female name
- Ranked #1,155 in 2024
- 208 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1923 (586 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Carmela appears almost entirely female. Of the 18,223 people counted with this name, 99.7% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Carmela: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Carmela 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 5,430 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
Carmela 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 Carmela during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Carmelas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 31 states and territories. New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania recorded the most babies named Carmela, while Wisconsin, Tennessee, Oregon recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 620 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Carmela
The name Carmela has its origins in the Italian language and culture. It is derived from the Latin word "carmina," which means "song" or "verse." The name was likely originally used to refer to a woman who had a beautiful singing voice or a talent for poetry.
In the Middle Ages, the name Carmela appeared in various Italian texts and records, particularly in regions such as Sicily and Naples. It was a popular name among Italian families during this time period.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Carmela can be found in the 13th-century Italian text "Liber Monialium" (Book of Nuns), which mentions a nun named Carmela di Messina from the city of Messina in Sicily.
Throughout history, there have been several notable figures who bore the name Carmela. In the 16th century, Carmela Valla was an Italian poet and scholar from Naples who was renowned for her works in Latin and Italian.
In the 18th century, Carmela Barone was an Italian painter and engraver from Naples who was known for her religious and mythological works.
In the 19th century, Carmela di Sanseverino was an Italian noblewoman and philanthropist who established several charitable institutions in Naples.
Carmela Cafarelli, born in 1890, was an Italian opera singer who performed at renowned venues such as La Scala and the Metropolitan Opera.
Carmela Soprano, although a fictional character, was a prominent figure in the popular HBO television series "The Sopranos," which aired from 1999 to 2007.
While the name Carmela has its roots in Italian culture, it has also been adopted and used in other parts of the world, particularly in Spanish-speaking countries and communities.
People
Carmela + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Carmela 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
Carmela: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Carmela?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 9,874 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Carmela 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 34,713 US residents.
Is Carmela a common name?
We classify Carmela as "Rare". It ranks above 97.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 24,323 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Carmela most popular?
The single biggest year for Carmela was 1923, when 586 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Carmela is about 47 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Carmela in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 18,229 people with the name Carmela, or 6.04 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,696 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 Carmela 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 Carmela?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Carmela appears almost entirely female. Of the 18,223 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 Carmela?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Carmela is White at 56.6%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (31.2%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (6.0%). 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 Carmela most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Carmela in the 2020 Census, accounting for 56.6% (10,309 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 Carmela in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Carmela a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Carmela 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 Carmela still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Carmela 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 Carmela 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 share the name Carmela?
You can see how many people have the name Carmela on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.