Carmel
Feminine · “garden”
Carmel is given to both — 7,216 girls and 1,393 boys since 1880. See Carmel as a boy nameSee other names given to both
Carmel is a mountain and a garden at once. The Hebrew karmel means an orchard or a planted place, and it names the ridge that runs down to the sea at Haifa, green against a dry coast. The Carmelite order began in caves on that ridge, which is how the name reached Catholic Europe.
How old is the name Carmel?
Carmel first appears in US birth records in 1888 — 137 years ago. The typical Carmel alive today was born around 1948, making them about 77 years old. About 3,900 people named Carmel are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Carmel most popular?
Carmel peaked in 1914, reaching #585 nationally. Today it ranks #4987, 4,402 places below that high. See the whole 1914 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From karmel to Carmel
The story of Carmel
Mount Carmel is where Elijah confronts the prophets of Baal in the book of Kings, and its greenness made it a byword for fertility in the prophets. Hermits living in its caves in the twelfth century became the Carmelite order, and the devotion of Our Lady of Mount Carmel spread the name across Catholic Europe: Carmel in Ireland and Israel, Carmela in Italy, Carmen in Spain. It came to American records from Irish, Italian and Jewish families alike.
Meaning
garden; orchard; a planted place
Hebrew karmel, a garden land or fruitful field, used both as a common noun and as the name of the mountain. The reading vineyard of God, sometimes printed, reads a divine element into the word that is not there.
How the name formed
- karmel
- Carmel
Related forms: Carmela · Carmen · כרמל · Carmel
Pronouncing Carmel
KAR-mel
Two syllables, stress in front. Some American speakers say kar-MEL with the weight at the end, which is closer to the Hebrew.
Nicknames for Carmel
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
- 1888
- Most girls named
- 1962155 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #585reached in 1914
- Change vs 2022
- +30.0%26 in 2025, from 20
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.
Carmel in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Carmela in Italian — related form
- Carmen in Spanish — related form
- כרמל in Hebrew — transliteration
- Carmel in Irish — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: California.
Carmels among us
people named Carmel are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 61,818 born in 2025 was named Carmel
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
Fashion outlook
Carmel 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 Carmel is headed
Carmel looks set to keep climbing gently, with roughly 31% more babies a year by 2030 if the current curve holds. Its history is short or jumpy, though, so read this as a sketch rather than a promise.
Low 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.
Carmel beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Carmel in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- It names a real mountain that can be shown on a map and is still green.
- It is used by Irish, Italian and Jewish families alike, so it belongs to several communities.
- The meaning is concrete and generous rather than abstract.
- In American English it is a near-homophone of caramel, which children notice quickly.
- It is also a California town and a common place name, so it is often heard as a place first.
- Two stress patterns circulate and the spelling settles neither.
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What they receive
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Carmel
Feminine · #4987 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Carmels 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 Carmel are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Carmel in 2025?
- Carmel ranks #4987 among US girl names in 2025, with 26 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Carmel?
- About 1 in every 61,818 US girls born in 2025 was named Carmel — 26 in all.
- Will my child share the name Carmel with classmates?
- Carmel will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Carmel
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Perri#4987 · Giannina#4987 · Karisma#4987 · Zuleyka#4987 · Mccall#4987 · Makinley#4987 · Jayani#4987 · Mela#4987
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Carmel? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Carmel and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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