Camela
Feminine
Camela sits between two names that are constantly confused and are not related to each other. One is Roman and belongs to a warrior in the Aeneid; the other is a flowering shrub named after a botanist. This spelling could be either, and the record does not say.
How old is the name Camela?
Camela first appears in US birth records in 1914 — 111 years ago. The typical Camela alive today was born around 1970, making them about 55 years old. About 700 people named Camela are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Camela most popular?
Camela peaked in 1963, reaching #1754 nationally. See the whole 1963 chart.
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
Our story of Camela
Virgil gives Camilla one of the best introductions in Latin poetry. She is a warrior queen raised in the woods, and the poem says she could run across a field of standing grain without bending a stalk, or skim the surface of the sea without wetting her feet. It is a description of speed so extreme it stops being athletics and becomes something else. She fights in the war at the end of the Aeneid, kills a good many people, and is brought down because she is distracted by a set of gold armor she wants. Virgil is not sentimental about her. She is the best fighter on the field and she dies of covetousness, in a poem that is unusually interested in how bravery and folly are sometimes the same action.
Meaningnot established
Not established
Camilla is a Roman name whose own sense is argued over, usually linked to an attendant at a religious rite. Camellia is a plant named in the eighteenth century. They sound alike and have nothing in common, and this spelling could descend from either.
Pronouncing Camela
kuh-MEL-uh
Three syllables with the weight in the middle. CAM-uh-luh is also heard, from readers who see Camilla in the spelling.
Nicknames for Camela
Moderate
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
- 1914
- Most girls named
- 196343 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1754reached in 1963
- Change vs 2020
- 0.0%6 in 2022, from 6
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.
Camela in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Camilla in Italian — related form
- Camila in Spanish — related form
Camelas among us
people named Camela are estimated to be alive in the US today
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
Questions parents actually ask
Fashion outlook
Camela sits outside the current charts, and that is its own kind of answer: naming cycles can only date the names they carried up. A name this rare has no decade stamped on it — it cannot go out of fashion, because it was never in.
Based on 146 years of naming cycles. How we read them
The trade-off
- It works in English, Spanish and Italian without adjustment.
- Cam is available as a short form and needs no explaining anywhere.
- Three syllables with a clear middle stress are easy to hear and easy to remember.
- Camila and Camilla are both commoner, so this spelling will be corrected regularly.
- Two stress patterns are in circulation and the spelling settles neither.
- No origin is documented for this form, so the meaning question has two possible answers and no settled one.
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Camela
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Camelas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 700 people named Camela are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Camela in 2025?
- Camela is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Camela with classmates?
- Camela will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More C names
The most-given names starting with C, all years combined.
Carol#2239 · Cynthia#1013 · Catherine#313 · Christine#1272 · Carolyn#1222 · Christina#770 · Charlotte#2 · Cheryl#4352
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Camela? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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