Head to head · Girls' names
Camilla vs Gwendolyn
#361 vs #360 in 2025
Gwendolyn is a whisker ahead (#360 vs #361 in 2025), but the curves point different ways: Gwendolyn is holding its place on the charts, Camilla is stepping back from its peak.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
The tale of the tape
On the charts, Gwendolyn leads 5 measures of 6; Camilla leads 0.
Ranks, counts and years are measured in the official US birth record; the classroom and living figures are estimates computed from it. The dot marks the side each measure favours on the charts — more common, not better.
What the records say
146 years of US births, drawn on one scale
Two curves, one scale
Who owned which decade
- 1880s: Camilla #589, Gwendolyn #862 — Camilla higher
- 1890s: Camilla #584, Gwendolyn #717 — Camilla higher
- 1900s: Camilla #604, Gwendolyn #400 — Gwendolyn higher
- 1910s: Camilla #602, Gwendolyn #265 — Gwendolyn higher
- 1920s: Camilla #643, Gwendolyn #219 — Gwendolyn higher
- 1930s: Camilla #644, Gwendolyn #186 — Gwendolyn higher
- 1940s: Camilla #647, Gwendolyn #148 — Gwendolyn higher
- 1950s: Camilla #824, Gwendolyn #127 — Gwendolyn higher
- 1960s: Camilla #817, Gwendolyn #196 — Gwendolyn higher
- 1970s: Camilla #1031, Gwendolyn #318 — Gwendolyn higher
- 1980s: Camilla #1189, Gwendolyn #537 — Gwendolyn higher
- 1990s: Camilla #1252, Gwendolyn #720 — Gwendolyn higher
- 2000s: Camilla #860, Gwendolyn #618 — Gwendolyn higher
- 2010s: Camilla #377, Gwendolyn #446 — Camilla higher
- 2020s: Camilla #317, Gwendolyn #383 — Camilla higher
Gwendolyn stood higher in 11 of 15 decades; Camilla has held the lead since the 2010s.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Camilla | Gwendolyn |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | #589 | #862 |
| 1890s | #584 | #717 |
| 1900s | #604 | #400 |
| 1910s | #602 | #265 |
| 1920s | #643 | #219 |
| 1930s | #644 | #186 |
| 1940s | #647 | #148 |
| 1950s | #824 | #127 |
| 1960s | #817 | #196 |
| 1970s | #1031 | #318 |
| 1980s | #1189 | #537 |
| 1990s | #1252 | #720 |
| 2000s | #860 | #618 |
| 2010s | #377 | #446 |
| 2020s | #317 | #383 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
The names themselves
Meaning, roots, sound and the people who carried each
Where each name comes from
Camilla
From the Roman family name Camillus; linked to Latin camillus, a youth who assisted at religious ceremonies
The Latin word camillus — a young attendant at a sacrifice — is well documented, and the name is usually traced to it. But the word itself is not native Latin and is generally thought to have come from Etruscan, a language whose vocabulary is only partly understood, so the meaning behind the meaning stays open.
Camillus → Camilla → Camille → Camila
How it traveled
Camilla is the feminine form of the old Roman cognomen Camillus, borne by patrician families of the Republic. Virgil made the name famous by giving it to a warrior maiden of the Volsci in the Aeneid, raised in the woods and faster on foot than the wind — a figure schoolchildren met for centuries wherever Latin was taught.
Gwendolyn
first part 'white, fair, blessed'; second part unsettled
The first element is Welsh gwen, 'white, fair, holy, blessed' — that part is not in doubt and it appears in many Welsh names. The second element is where scholars part ways: one reading takes it from dolen, 'ring, link, bow', giving something like 'white ring'; another treats the ending as arising from the Latinized form Guendoloena used in medieval texts, in which case it carries no separate meaning of its own.
Guendoloena → Gwendolen → Gwendoline → Gwendolyn
How it traveled
The name belongs to Wales, built on gwen, one of the most productive elements in the Welsh naming stock. It reaches the wider record through Geoffrey of Monmouth, whose twelfth-century Latin histories and his Vita Merlini gave the forms Guendoloena and Gwendolen to readers far outside Wales.
Where a reading is contested the note says so — this page does not turn a guess into a fact. The chain is each name's recorded forms, oldest first; the story is its opening, told in full on the name's own page.
Out loud, and in short
Camilla
kuh-MIL-uh
Stress falls on the middle syllable in English. Italian speakers place it on the first: KAH-mee-lah.
- Cami — The most common everyday short form in the US; also spelled Cammie or Cammy.
- Milla — Informal, taken from the second half of the name; also used as a given name in its own right.
- Millie — Long-established short form; reaches other children through Millicent and Mildred as well.
- Cam — Clipped and casual, and shared with boys named Cameron.
- Also Mila.
Gwendolyn
GWEN-duh-lin
Stress on the first syllable. The middle syllable is usually swallowed to a quick 'duh'; some speakers say GWEN-doh-lin with the o fully pronounced, and both are accepted.
- Gwen — The standard short form, and a long-established given name in its own right, especially in Wales.
- Wendy — Used as a short form since the early twentieth century; also independently common as a full name, particularly for women born mid-century.
- Lyn — Taken from the ending rather than the beginning; also spelled Lynn and used as a name on its own.
- Gwennie — Informal and affectionate, mostly family use.
- Also Dolly.
Is it right for you
The differences that decide it, laid out by what you want
Choose by what you want
Choose Camilla if you want…
- a name past its most crowded yearsCamilla is stepping back from its peak
Choose Gwendolyn if you want…
- a name on the way upup 18 places on the charts in five years
Each line is a measured difference between the two names — a rank, a count, a recorded form — never a judgement of either. Save the one that answers your question; it lands on your shortlist.
The trade-offs, name by name
Camilla
Strengths
- A documented history stretching from Republican Rome through Virgil to the present, with no gap needing explanation.
- Recognized across Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, French and Polish in closely related forms, so it travels without translation.
- Several long-established short forms — Cami, Milla, Millie — none of which had to be invented for it.
To consider
- The single-l Spanish form Camila is widely used in the US, so expect to correct the spelling fairly often — and to hear the two names read as the same one.
- Nicknames go in two directions: Cami and Milla lead to quite different everyday names, and other people will pick for you unless you settle it early.
- In Britain the name currently belongs to Queen Camilla, which gives it a formal, slightly aristocratic echo in some ears — noticeable mainly if your family has UK ties.
Gwendolyn
Strengths
- Comes with Gwen already attached — a short form that has stood alone as a name for centuries, so the child has a formal and a casual option from day one.
- A documented line back to twelfth-century Welsh-Latin sources, plus a nineteenth-century literary record in English.
- Long, unbroken presence in American use rather than a recent arrival, so it is familiar to nearly everyone without being common in any classroom.
To consider
- Three spellings circulate — Gwendolyn, Gwendoline, Gwendolen — so expect to spell it out routinely, and to see the other two come back at you on forms and envelopes.
- The name is strongly represented among older generations in the US, which means some people will hear it as belonging to their grandmother's cohort rather than to a small child. That reading fades as fewer people hold that association.
- The gw- opening is unfamiliar outside Welsh and can get flattened to Gwen-do-line or Wendolyn by speakers of other languages.
Documented properties of each name — how it spells, travels and shortens — not opinions about the child.
With your last name
Say both in full. The notes are facts about letters and sound — a rhyme, a shared initial, the monogram — not a verdict on either name.
Type a last name to hear Camilla and Gwendolyn in full.
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Decide together
Nobody names a baby alone
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More head-to-heads
Same measures, different pair. Sixty more are dealt daily in the arena.
Lists these names appear on
- Names far more common than their rank admits
- Ancient Roman names in modern use
- Renaissance names from the Italian courts
- Names ending in -la
- all guides
Where Camilla and Gwendolyn each sit in the library — alternatives in the same style, ranked by the same records.
Camilla or Gwendolyn — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Camilla or Gwendolyn?
- Gwendolyn, in 2025: Gwendolyn ranked #360 with 848 babies; Camilla ranked #361 with 847 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Camilla or Gwendolyn?
- Gwendolyn. Over the last five years Camilla moved down 98 places; Gwendolyn moved up 18 places.
- Which is the older name, Camilla or Gwendolyn?
- The US record cannot say: both were already in use when it began in 1880.
- How many people are named Camilla and Gwendolyn?
- About 25,500 people named Camilla are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 88,500 people named Gwendolyn are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Camillas or Gwendolyns in the classroom?
- Camilla will almost certainly be the only one in school. Gwendolyn will almost certainly be the only one in school.
US figures from the Social Security Administration, 1880–2025. Votes are battle voters on this site, not the birth record. Data & methodology
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