Head to head · Boys' names
Camilo vs Cassius
#585 vs #582 in 2025
Cassius is a whisker ahead (#582 vs #585 in 2025), but the curves point different ways: Cassius is stepping back from its peak, Camilo is climbing the charts fast. On momentum, Camilo has the edge.
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, Cassius leads 5 measures of 6; Camilo leads 1.
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: Camilo —, Cassius #691 — Cassius higher
- 1890s: Camilo —, Cassius #839 — Cassius higher
- 1900s: Camilo #1440, Cassius #1373 — Cassius higher
- 1910s: Camilo #2020, Cassius #2071 — Camilo higher
- 1920s: Camilo #2040, Cassius #2616 — Camilo higher
- 1930s: Camilo #2091, Cassius #3012 — Camilo higher
- 1940s: Camilo #2005, Cassius #2714 — Camilo higher
- 1950s: Camilo #1949, Cassius #3273 — Camilo higher
- 1960s: Camilo #1863, Cassius #1668 — Cassius higher
- 1970s: Camilo #1695, Cassius #2415 — Camilo higher
- 1980s: Camilo #1400, Cassius #2548 — Camilo higher
- 1990s: Camilo #1456, Cassius #2038 — Camilo higher
- 2000s: Camilo #1178, Cassius #1375 — Camilo higher
- 2010s: Camilo #951, Cassius #721 — Cassius higher
- 2020s: Camilo #588, Cassius #542 — Cassius higher
Camilo stood higher in 9 of 15 decades; Cassius has held the lead since the 2010s.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Camilo | Cassius |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | — | #691 |
| 1890s | — | #839 |
| 1900s | #1440 | #1373 |
| 1910s | #2020 | #2071 |
| 1920s | #2040 | #2616 |
| 1930s | #2091 | #3012 |
| 1940s | #2005 | #2714 |
| 1950s | #1949 | #3273 |
| 1960s | #1863 | #1668 |
| 1970s | #1695 | #2415 |
| 1980s | #1400 | #2548 |
| 1990s | #1456 | #2038 |
| 2000s | #1178 | #1375 |
| 2010s | #951 | #721 |
| 2020s | #588 | #542 |
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
Camilo
young attendant at a religious rite; acolyte
That is what the Latin word camillus meant to Romans, and it is the direct source of the name. Where the Latin word itself came from is not recovered — it looks pre-Latin, and Etruscan is the usual suggestion, but no one has proved it.
camillus (Latin, ritual attendant) → Camillus → Camillo → Camilo
How it traveled
Camillus began as a Roman family name — most famously that of the gens Furia — built on an ordinary Latin word for the boy who assisted a priest at a sacrifice. Virgil gave the feminine form its literary life in the Aeneid, where Camilla is the swift-footed Volscian warrior; the masculine line stayed quieter until Saint Camillus de Lellis, founder of the nursing order later called the Camillians, made it a devotional name across Catholic Europe in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.
Cassius
Most often read as "empty, hollow, vain," from Latin cassus
Two positions compete. The standard proposal links the family name to the Latin adjective cassus, "empty" or "hollow" — the same root behind words for something void. The other holds that Cassius, like many old Roman clan names, is simply older than Latin etymology can reach, an Italic family label whose sense was already lost by the Republic. Roman nomina were inherited, not chosen for meaning, so the family carried it for centuries without anyone taking it as a description.
Cassius (Roman nomen) → Cassianus → Cassian → Cassio
How it traveled
Cassius began as a Roman nomen, the name of the gens Cassia, a family present in Rome's records from the early Republic onward. Its best-known bearer, Gaius Cassius Longinus, joined the conspiracy against Julius Caesar in 44 BC — which is how the name reached English readers, first through Roman historians and then through Shakespeare, who gave Cassius some of the most quoted lines in Julius Caesar.
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
Camilo
kah-MEE-loh
Stress on the middle syllable in Spanish, Portuguese and Italian alike. English speakers sometimes try CAM-ih-lo on first sight; one correction usually settles it.
- Cami — The everyday short form in Spanish-speaking families; also used for girls named Camila, so context does the work.
- Milo — An English-friendly clip that doubles as a given name in its own right.
- Camilito — Spanish diminutive, used by family and mostly outgrown by school age.
- Cam — An anglicized short form, shared with Cameron and Campbell.
Cassius
KASH-us
Two pronunciations circulate in American English: KASH-us, the more common, and the three-syllable KASS-ee-us, closer to the Latin KAS-see-oos. Both are correct; families generally pick one and repeat it.
- Cass — The default short form, used for boys and girls alike; also given on its own as a full name.
- Cash — An informal shortening that has grown alongside Cash as an independent given name for boys.
- Cas — A spelling variant of the same short form, more common in writing than in speech.
- Cassie — Heard occasionally, though in the US it attaches far more often to Cassandra and Cassidy, and reads as feminine to most ears.
Is it right for you
The differences that decide it, laid out by what you want
Choose by what you want
Choose Camilo if you want…
- a name on the way upup 289 places on the charts in five years
- a newer arrivalCamilo entered the US charts in 1909
Choose Cassius if you want…
- a name past its most crowded yearsCassius is stepping back from its peak
- a long American recordCassius was already in use when US records began in 1880
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
Camilo
Strengths
- Spelled the way it sounds in Spanish, and phonetic enough in English that most people read it correctly on the second try.
- Works unchanged in Spanish, Portuguese and (as Camillo) Italian, with close cousins in French, Polish and Romanian.
- Two ready-made short forms in real use — Cami at home, Milo among English speakers.
To consider
- Camila is far more familiar to American ears, and the two differ by one letter. Expect a certain number of forms, rosters and emails that turn Camilo into Camila until someone catches it.
- Because Camille is largely a girl's name in French and English, some people meet Camilo assuming a feminine name. It clears up fast, but it will come up.
- The name is climbing rather than holding steady, so a Camilo born now may meet more namesakes at eighteen than at eight — still nothing close to a crowded classroom.
Cassius
Strengths
- An unbroken written record from the Roman Republic to the present, so the spelling is already familiar to anyone who has read Shakespeare or Roman history.
- Two established one-syllable short forms, Cass and Cash, both in genuine use.
- Recognizable across Italian, Portuguese, Spanish and Polish in forms close enough that the name survives a border.
To consider
- The pronunciation genuinely splits: KASH-us and KASS-ee-us are both in use, so he will correct people, or be corrected, throughout his life. Choosing one early and using it consistently is most of the fix.
- The leading etymology, Latin cassus, means "empty" or "hollow" — an unappealing reading if a meaning matters to you, though Roman families inherited such names without ever treating them as descriptions.
- The strongest historical association is with the conspirator who helped kill Caesar, and Shakespeare's portrait of him is not flattering. Most people recall the name before the plot, but some readers will make the link.
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 Camilo and Cassius 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
Still torn between Camilo and Cassius?
Put both to the vote.
One link to your partner, your parents, your sister. Each of them gets the two names, a one-tap answer and room to say why — and every reply lands in one place.
Free to start · no account needed · everyone you invite votes in one tap
More than two in the running? Settle it with a bracket or run the full comparison with your last name.
More head-to-heads
Same measures, different pair. Sixty more are dealt daily in the arena.
Lists these names appear on
- Spanish and Latin names with warmth
- Disney names on real birth certificates
- Victorian names ready for a second century
- Hero and god names for boys
- all guides
Where Camilo and Cassius each sit in the library — alternatives in the same style, ranked by the same records.
Camilo or Cassius — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Camilo or Cassius?
- Cassius, in 2025: Cassius ranked #582 with 504 babies; Camilo ranked #585 with 503 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Camilo or Cassius?
- Camilo. Over the last five years Camilo moved up 289 places; Cassius moved down 94 places.
- Which is the older name, Camilo or Cassius?
- Camilo entered the US charts in 1909; Cassius was already in use when US records began in 1880. On the American record, Cassius is the older name.
- How many people are named Camilo and Cassius?
- About 8,400 people named Camilo are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 9,200 people named Cassius are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Camilos or Cassiuss in the classroom?
- Camilo will almost certainly be the only one in school. Cassius 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
Keep playing
Sixty more head-to-heads are dealt in the arena every day — or line up Camilo, Cassius and the rest of your shortlist with your last name in one printable report.
Free to start · no account needed · everyone you invite votes in one tap