Calla
Feminine · Greek roots · “beauty”
Calla is the name of a flower and, before that, a Greek word for beauty — a two-syllable word that lands cleanly in English and needs no explaining once someone has seen a calla lily. It has been in American use across many generations without ever belonging to one of them, which is a rare thing for a flower name.
How old is the name Calla?
Calla was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Calla alive today was born around 2012, making them about 13 years old. About 3,900 people named Calla are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Calla most popular?
Calla peaked in 1881, reaching #623 nationally. Today it ranks #1396, 773 places below that high. See the whole 1881 chart.
Calla appears on this list:
Where it comes from
From kallos (Greek, "beauty") to Calla
The story of Calla
Greek kallos, "beauty," gave botanical Latin its genus Calla, formally described by eighteenth-century botanists for a marsh plant of the northern wetlands. The showy trumpet most Americans picture — the one sold by florists — is actually a Zantedeschia from southern Africa, but the common name calla lily stuck fast and the flower became a fixture of American gardens and paintings, not least in Georgia O'Keeffe's canvases of the 1920s. The word crossed from the greenhouse to the baptismal register the way Rose, Lily and Iris did, in the wave of Victorian flower naming, and it has appeared quietly in American records ever since. Its strongest showing today is in Texas, California and New York.
Meaning
beauty
The name comes through the calla lily, whose botanical name traces to Greek kallos, "beauty." Calla also does duty as a short form of longer names built on the same root — Callista, Calliope — and occasionally of Caroline.
How the name formed
- kallosGreek, "beauty"
- Callabotanical Latin
- Calla
Related forms: Calla · Cala · Callie · Callista
Pronouncing Calla
KAL-uh
First syllable as in calorie, not as in call. Stress falls on the first syllable. Because it is uncommon, expect it to be heard occasionally as Cala, Callie or Kayla on the phone.
Nicknames for Calla
High
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1880
- Most girls named
- 2017176 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #623reached in 1881
- Change vs 2022
- +15.6%156 in 2025, from 135
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Calla in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Calla in Italian — same name
- Cala in Spanish — spelling variant
- Callie in English — related form
- Callista in Greek — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, California, New York.
Callas among us
people named Calla are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 10,303 born in 2025 was named Calla
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Calla
- #1396
- Calla on the 2025 chart
- #740
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Calla went to 156 girls in 2025, but Calah, Kalla and Callah and the rest below are the same name said out loud. Together the 6 spellings went to 221, which makes it the 740th most-given girls’ name of the year — 656 places above the chart.
About 1 girl in 7,273 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 10,303 for Calla itself.
Spellings are grouped by a fixed rule that folds interchangeable English spellings of one sound (ck/k, ph/f, x/ks, a non-initial y for i) and keeps vowels apart, so Sean and Shawn stay separate names. It errs towards splitting: a family here is never larger than the truth. SSA national data, 2025. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
Fashion outlook
Calla sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Calla is headed
Calla should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
Medium confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Calla beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Calla in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Short, two syllables, and spelled the way it sounds — most people get it right after hearing it once.
- Already an English word through the calla lily, so it needs no introduction or explanation.
- Comes with ready-made short forms: Callie for everyday use, Cal for something plainer.
- Present in American records across many generations without spiking, so it isn't pinned to any one decade.
- Related to a family of Greek names — Callista, Calliope — if a longer formal version ever appeals.
- It sits in a crowded sound-neighborhood: Callie, Cali, Cala, Kayla and Ella all live nearby, and Calla will sometimes be written down as one of them.
- In the US, calla lilies carry a strong association with funerals and memorial arrangements alongside their long use in weddings. Some people will think of one, some the other.
- A child with this name will likely be the only one anywhere in her school. That means no last-initial problem, and also a lifetime of repeating it once at introductions.
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Calla
Feminine · Greek roots · #1396 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Callas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 3,900 people named Calla are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Calla?
- Calla is the most-used spelling in US records — 156 of the 221 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Calah, Kalla, Callah, Kala and Cala.
- How popular is the name Calla in 2025?
- Calla ranks #1396 among US girl names in 2025, with 156 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Calla?
- About 1 in every 10,303 US girls born in 2025 was named Calla — 156 in all.
- Will my child share the name Calla with classmates?
- Calla will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Calla
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Eleanore#1396 · Ayesha#1396 · Maeva#1396 · Layne#1396 · Noelia#1396 · Inez#1396 · Erica#1396 · Kynlee#1396
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Calla? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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