Camille
Feminine
Camille is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 75,722 girls against 1,398 boys since 1880. See Camille as a boy name
Camille is the French shape of a Roman family name, worn smooth by a few thousand years of use and by French speakers who give it the softest possible landing: kah-MEE. In English it arrives as two clean syllables ending on that long, ringing -eel, and it has been on American records continuously since record-keeping began. The sculptor Camille Claudel carried it in nineteenth-century Paris.
How old is the name Camille?
Camille was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Camille alive today was born around 1995, making them about 30 years old. About 66,500 people named Camille are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Camille most popular?
Camille peaked in 2022, reaching #236 nationally. Today it ranks #240, 4 places below that high. See the whole 2022 chart.
Where it comes from
From Camillus to Camille
The story of Camille
The name begins as Camillus, a family name among the Romans, and its feminine Camilla was made famous by Virgil in the Aeneid, where Camilla is a swift-footed warrior of the Volsci. Latin Camilla passed into Italian and Spanish as Camilla and Camila, and into French, where it flattened to Camille and — unusually — settled as a name for boys and girls alike. English speakers took the French spelling with the English stress, kuh-MEEL, helped along in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries by stage and screen adaptations of Dumas's La Dame aux Camélias, which were retitled Camille. It has been present on American records without a break ever since, and still charts in France.
Meaningscholars disagree
From the Roman name Camillus/Camilla — a young attendant at a religious rite
In classical Latin, camillus and camilla named a boy or girl who assisted a priest at sacrifices, and that is the reading usually given. But Roman writers themselves treated the word as an inheritance from Etruscan, a language only partly deciphered, so the meaning behind the meaning is genuinely lost. Both facts are true at once: a documented Latin sense sitting on top of an older, unreadable root.
Cultural footprint
Camille Claudel (b. 1864) — Sculptor whose genius rivaled Rodin's
Source: Wikidata — the one source on this page that is not an official agency.
How the name formed
- Camillus
- Camilla
- Camille
Related forms: Camille · Camilla · Camila · Camilla · Kamila · Kamilla
Pronouncing Camille
kuh-MEEL
Standard in American English, with the stress on the second syllable. French speakers say kah-MEE, with the final consonants silent; a third version, kuh-MEE-uh, follows the Italian Camilla and turns up occasionally. Any of the three is defensible, so it helps to pick one early.
Nicknames for Camille
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
- 20131,326 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #236reached in 2022
- Change vs 2022
- +0.3%1,299 in 2025, from 1,295
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.
Camille in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Camille in French — same name
- Camilla in Italian — related form
- Camila in Spanish — related form
- Camilla in Latin — same name
- Kamila in Polish — related form
- Kamilla in Russian — transliteration
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, Louisiana. INSEE rounds every published count to the nearest five for statistical confidentiality; the ranks are calculated from the exact figures. International figures from INSEE. Sources
Camilles among us
people named Camille are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 1,237 born in 2025 was named Camille
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Camille
- #240
- Camille on the 2025 chart
- #232
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Camille went to 1,299 girls in 2025, but Kamille and Camile are the same name said out loud. Together the 4 spellings went to 1,433, which makes it the 232nd most-given girls’ name of the year — 8 places above the chart.
and 1 rarer spelling.
About 1 girl in 1,122 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 1,237 for Camille 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 Rochelle test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Camille's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Rochelle climbed just as high around 1969, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Rochelle's path sketches the road Camille is walking now.
Camille 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 Camille is headed
Camille 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.
Camille beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Camille in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- A spelling most English speakers can read and write on the first attempt, unlike many French-derived names.
- Continuously on American records since the earliest data, with no boom-and-bust cycle behind it.
- Works across languages: Camille in France, Camilla in Italy, Camila in Spanish-speaking countries, Kamila in Poland.
- Established short forms already in use — Cami, Cam, Millie — so nothing has to be invented.
- Three pronunciations circulate: kuh-MEEL, French kah-MEE, and occasionally kuh-MEE-uh. Expect to correct people, especially if you prefer the French one.
- Camila and Camilla are close cousins and currently much more widely given, so Camille gets heard or written as one of those fairly often.
- In France the name is given to boys as well as girls. That rarely matters in American life, but it can surprise francophone relatives or come up on forms abroad.
- Common enough to be recognized on sight, uncommon enough that a Camille will most likely be the only one in her class — a balance that cuts both ways depending on what you want.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Camille 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 Camille? Hide it among decoys and let them guess.
What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Camille
Feminine · #240 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Camilles are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 66,500 people named Camille are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Camille?
- Camille is the most-used spelling in US records — 1,299 of the 1,433 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Kamille and Camile.
- How popular is the name Camille in 2025?
- Camille ranks #240 among US girl names in 2025, with 1,299 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Camille?
- About 1 in every 1,237 US girls born in 2025 was named Camille — 1,299 in all.
- Will my child share the name Camille with classmates?
- Camille will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Camille
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Collins#241 · Delaney#242 · Cataleya#237 · Alexandra#237 · Lucille#237 · Brynlee#243 · Nyla#236 · Diana#244
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Camille? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Camille 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.
Or jump into a head-to-head
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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; international figures from national statistics agencies. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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