Camilla
Feminine
Camilla is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 30,276 girls against 6 boys since 1880.
Virgil gave this name to a swift-footed huntress in the Aeneid, written in the first century BC, and it has been read, translated and re-copied ever since — one of the few Roman names that never had to be revived because it never quite went away. It has three easy syllables, a soft landing, and short forms that have been in use for generations. English, Italian, Spanish and French speakers each have their own version of it.
How old is the name Camilla?
Camilla was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Camilla alive today was born around 2010, making them about 15 years old. About 25,500 people named Camilla are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Camilla most popular?
Camilla peaked in 2020, reaching #263 nationally. Today it ranks #361, 98 places below that high. See the whole 2020 chart.
Where it comes from
From Camillus to Camilla
The story of Camilla
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. Through Italy the name stayed in ordinary use, and it spread across Europe in the medieval and early modern periods, producing Camille in France and Camila in Spain and Portugal. It reached English-speaking countries as a literary and aristocratic name and has been recorded in the United States for as long as national name statistics exist.
Meaningscholars disagree
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.
How the name formed
- Camillus
- Camilla
- Camille
- Camila
Related forms: Camilla · Camila · Camila · Camille · Kamila · Kamilla
Pronouncing Camilla
kuh-MIL-uh
Stress falls on the middle syllable in English. Italian speakers place it on the first: KAH-mee-lah.
Nicknames for Camilla
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
- 20191,224 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #263reached in 2020
- Change vs 2022
- −17.0%847 in 2025, from 1,020
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.
Camilla in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Camilla in Italian — same name
- Camila in Spanish — spelling variant
- Camila in Portuguese — spelling variant
- Camille in French — related form
- Kamila in Polish — related form
- Kamilla in Hungarian — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, New York.
Camillas among us
people named Camilla are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 1,898 born in 2025 was named Camilla
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Camilla
- #361
- Camilla on the 2025 chart
- #12
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Camilla went to 847 girls in 2025, but Camila, Kamila and Kamilla and the rest below are the same name said out loud. Together the 10 spellings went to 8,592, which makes it the 12th most-given girls’ name of the year — 349 places above the chart.
and 5 rarer spellings.
About 1 girl in 187 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 1,898 for Camilla 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
The Bernadine test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Camilla's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Bernadine climbed just as high around 1931, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Bernadine's path sketches the road Camilla is walking now.
Camilla 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 Camilla is headed
Camilla should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
High 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.
Camilla beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Camilla in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- 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.
- Familiar enough to be spelled without a spelling lesson, while a child is unlikely to share it with a classmate.
- 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.
- It has been easing back from its recent high point rather than climbing, which means it is neither on the way up as a trend nor tied to one particular moment.
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What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Camilla
Feminine · #361 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Camillas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 25,500 people named Camilla are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Camilla?
- Camilla is one of 5 recorded spellings. Camila is the more common one — 6,591 births in 2025 against 847 for Camilla.
- How popular is the name Camilla in 2025?
- Camilla ranks #361 among US girl names in 2025, with 847 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Camilla?
- About 1 in every 1,898 US girls born in 2025 was named Camilla — 847 in all.
- Will my child share the name Camilla with classmates?
- Camilla will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Camilla
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Gwendolyn#360 · Briella#362 · Itzel#359 · Helena#363 · Kayla#364 · Matilda#364 · Ariyah#366 · Adriana#366
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Camilla? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Camilla and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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