Head to head · Girls' names
Camilla vs Itzel
#361 vs #359 in 2025
Itzel is a whisker ahead (#359 vs #361 in 2025), but the curves point different ways: Itzel is climbing the charts fast, 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
The tape is even: Camilla and Itzel each lead 3 measures of 6.
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, Itzel — — Camilla higher
- 1890s: Camilla #584, Itzel — — Camilla higher
- 1900s: Camilla #604, Itzel — — Camilla higher
- 1910s: Camilla #602, Itzel — — Camilla higher
- 1920s: Camilla #643, Itzel — — Camilla higher
- 1930s: Camilla #644, Itzel — — Camilla higher
- 1940s: Camilla #647, Itzel — — Camilla higher
- 1950s: Camilla #824, Itzel — — Camilla higher
- 1960s: Camilla #817, Itzel — — Camilla higher
- 1970s: Camilla #1031, Itzel #9652 — Camilla higher
- 1980s: Camilla #1189, Itzel #5534 — Camilla higher
- 1990s: Camilla #1252, Itzel #988 — Itzel higher
- 2000s: Camilla #860, Itzel #416 — Itzel higher
- 2010s: Camilla #377, Itzel #468 — Camilla higher
- 2020s: Camilla #317, Itzel #455 — Camilla higher
Camilla stood higher in 13 of 15 decades; Camilla has held the lead since the 2010s.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Camilla | Itzel |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | #589 | — |
| 1890s | #584 | — |
| 1900s | #604 | — |
| 1910s | #602 | — |
| 1920s | #643 | — |
| 1930s | #644 | — |
| 1940s | #647 | — |
| 1950s | #824 | — |
| 1960s | #817 | — |
| 1970s | #1031 | #9652 |
| 1980s | #1189 | #5534 |
| 1990s | #1252 | #988 |
| 2000s | #860 | #416 |
| 2010s | #377 | #468 |
| 2020s | #317 | #455 |
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.
Itzel
Linked to Ixchel, a Maya goddess; also read through Maya itz, 'dew, nectar, sap'
Two serious readings compete. The most common holds Itzel to be a modern form of Ixchel (Ix Chel), the Yucatec Maya goddess of the moon, medicine, weaving and childbirth. The other works from the Maya root itz, which covers dew, nectar, resin and sap — the fluid that seeps from a plant. Popular lists often print 'rainbow lady' as a flat translation; that gloss is not supported by the Maya language itself. An unsettled name is a fuller one here, not a broken one.
How it traveled
The name belongs to the Yucatec Maya linguistic world, and its most-cited source, Ixchel, is documented in Maya codices and in sixteenth-century Spanish accounts of the peninsula, where she appears as a goddess of childbirth and healing with a pilgrimage site on Cozumel. Itzel itself came into general use much later, in twentieth-century Mexico, during a broad turn toward Indigenous given names alongside Xóchitl, Citlali and Nayeli.
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.
Itzel
eet-SEL
Spanish stress falls on the second syllable, and the tz is one quick ts sound, as in 'cats'. English speakers commonly say it-ZELL, which most families accept without correcting.
- Itzy — The most common informal short form in Spanish-speaking families; also written Itzi.
- Itze — Informal, used mainly within the family; rarely written on documents.
- Chelo — Used occasionally through the Ixchel connection; more common among older speakers and not attached to Itzel everywhere.
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
- a name with more sound in itCamilla runs 3 syllables, Itzel 2
- plenty of nickname options5 recorded short forms — Cami, Milla and Millie
- a long American recordCamilla was already in use when US records began in 1880
Choose Itzel if you want…
- a name on the way upup 209 places on the charts in five years
- a name with fewer syllablesItzel is 2 syllables to Camilla's 3
- a newer arrivalItzel entered the US charts in 1977
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.
Itzel
Strengths
- Short, two syllables, and spelled exactly as it sounds in Spanish — no silent letters and no competing spellings in wide use.
- Works in both Spanish and English mouths without changing form, which matters in bilingual families.
- Rooted in a documented Maya naming tradition rather than invented recently, so it has real history behind it.
To consider
- English speakers who have not met the name usually guess it-ZELL rather than eet-SEL. Both are in use, so decide early which one your family will answer to, because the correction is a lifelong small task otherwise.
- The meaning is genuinely unsettled. If you want a name whose translation you can state in one line to relatives, this one will always come with a footnote — and the popular 'rainbow lady' gloss is not something the Maya language supports.
- Over the phone it is often heard as Itzayana, Ixchel or Isabel, and the tz can come back written as ts or z.
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 Itzel in full.
Weighing the whole shortlist? Run the full comparison — up to eight names with your last name, initials, classroom projections and a printable report.
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 Itzel each sit in the library — alternatives in the same style, ranked by the same records.
Camilla or Itzel — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Camilla or Itzel?
- Itzel, in 2025: Itzel ranked #359 with 850 babies; Camilla ranked #361 with 847 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Camilla or Itzel?
- Itzel. Over the last five years Camilla moved down 98 places; Itzel moved up 209 places.
- Which is the older name, Camilla or Itzel?
- Camilla was already in use when US records began in 1880; Itzel entered the US charts in 1977. On the American record, Camilla is the older name.
- How many people are named Camilla and Itzel?
- About 25,500 people named Camilla are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 21,000 people named Itzel are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Camillas or Itzels in the classroom?
- Camilla will almost certainly be the only one in school. Itzel 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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