Camelia
Feminine · “the camellia flower”
Camelia is the flower, and the flower is named after a person: a seventeenth-century Jesuit botanist called Kamel who worked in the Philippines and sent plant descriptions back to Europe.
How old is the name Camelia?
Camelia first appears in US birth records in 1884 — 141 years ago. The typical Camelia alive today was born around 1979, making them about 46 years old. About 2,500 people named Camelia are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Camelia most popular?
Camelia peaked in 1884, reaching #1024 nationally. Today it ranks #3712, 2,688 places below that high. See the whole 1884 chart.
Where it comes from
From Kamel to Camelia
The story of Camelia
Kamel spent his life in Manila, ran a pharmacy for the poor and wrote careful descriptions of Philippine plants that reached European botanists. Linnaeus named the camellia after him — a plant from China and Japan that Kamel had nothing to do with, which is the kind of thing that happens in taxonomy. The flower name became a women's name in Romanian, French and Spanish, and reaches American records from all three.
Meaning
the camellia flower
Linnaeus named the genus Camellia in honor of Georg Josef Kamel, a Moravian Jesuit and botanist; the name is therefore a Latinization of a surname, and the flower is native to east Asia rather than anywhere Kamel worked.
How the name formed
- Kamel
- Camellia
- Camelia
Related forms: Camelia · Camélia · Camellia
Pronouncing Camelia
kuh-MEEL-yah
Three syllables with the stress in the middle. Romanian gives ka-me-LEE-a, with four.
Nicknames for Camelia
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
- 1884
- Most girls named
- 197757 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1024reached in 1884
- Change vs 2023
- −2.4%40 in 2025, from 41
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.
Camelia in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Camelia in Romanian — same name
- Camélia in French — same name
- Camellia in English — spelling variant
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, California, Florida.
Camelias among us
people named Camelia are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 40,182 born in 2025 was named Camelia
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Camelia
- #3712
- Camelia on the 2025 chart
- #786
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Camelia went to 40 girls in 2025, but Camellia and Kamelia are the same name said out loud. Together the 3 spellings went to 174, which makes it the 786th most-given girls’ name of the year — 2,926 places above the chart.
- Camellia123
- Camelia40
- Kamelia11
About 1 girl in 9,237 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 40,182 for Camelia 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
Camelia 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 Camelia is headed
Camelia 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.
Camelia beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Camelia in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- A settled meaning tied to a real flower with a genuinely good story behind its name.
- Cami and Lia are both complete short forms in current use.
- Very widely used in Romania, so it has a real community behind it.
- Camellia with two l's is the botanical spelling and both appear.
- It is close to Camilla and Amelia in an American ear.
- The stress differs between the Romanian and American readings.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Camelia to the vote.
Add it to a family vote or a couple’s swipe deck — the other person gets one card, a simple answer and room to say why. No app, no account for them.
Only the people you invite can see your list.
Already decided on Camelia? Hide it among decoys and let them guess.
What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Camelia
Feminine · #3712 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Camelias are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 2,500 people named Camelia are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Camelia?
- Camelia is one of 3 recorded spellings. Camellia is the more common one — 123 births in 2025 against 40 for Camelia.
- How popular is the name Camelia in 2025?
- Camelia ranks #3712 among US girl names in 2025, with 40 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Camelia?
- About 1 in every 40,182 US girls born in 2025 was named Camelia — 40 in all.
- Will my child share the name Camelia with classmates?
- Camelia will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Camelia
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Monet#3712 · Barrett#3712 · October#3712 · Aubrianna#3712 · Mishka#3712 · Berkleigh#3712 · Zailey#3712 · Ora#3712
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Camelia? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Camelia and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
Compare side by sideIn a hurry? Just pick a winner — one tap, no sign-up, and you see how everyone else voted.
Weighing a whole shortlist? Add the rest in the builder, or settle it with a bracket.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
No advertising trackers and no data sellinghow we handle your dataindependent and founder-run, about Name Battle