Carmelo
Masculine · “of Mount Carmel”
Carmelo is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 13,168 boys against 5 girls since 1880.
Carmelo comes from a mountain — Mount Carmel, the ridge above the Mediterranean coast where a community of hermits gathered in the twelfth century and became the Carmelite order. From that devotion the name spread through Italy and Spain, and from there to American cities, where it has been carried without interruption for well over a century. Three syllables, stress in the middle, and a short form that has done its own traveling: Melo.
How old is the name Carmelo?
Carmelo first appears in US birth records in 1904 — 121 years ago. The typical Carmelo alive today was born around 2008, making them about 17 years old. About 11,000 people named Carmelo are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Carmelo most popular?
Carmelo peaked in 2013, reaching #515 nationally. Today it ranks #710, 195 places below that high. See the whole 2013 chart.
Where it comes from
From Karmel to Carmelo
The story of Carmelo
Mount Carmel in what is now northern Israel appears throughout the Hebrew Bible as a place of prophets and green heights. In the twelfth century a group of hermits settled on its slopes and grew into the Carmelite order, whose devotion to Our Lady of Mount Carmel spread across Catholic Europe. In Italy and Spain that devotion turned into given names — Carmelo for boys, Carmela and Carmen for girls — and Sicilian and Neapolitan families in particular kept Carmelo going generation after generation. Italian and Hispanic immigration carried it into the United States, which is why it remains best represented in states with deep roots in both communities.
Meaning
of Mount Carmel; the mountain name itself means garden or orchard
The Hebrew karmel is read as 'garden' or 'orchard'; it is often parsed further as kerem el, 'vineyard of God'. Either way, the name reaches a child by way of the mountain and the religious order named for it, not directly from the Hebrew word.
How the name formed
- Karmel
- Carmelus
- Carmelo
Related forms: Carmelo · Carmelo · Carmelo · Carmel · Carmine · Karmel
Pronouncing Carmelo
kar-MEL-oh
In Spanish and Italian the middle vowel is a clean 'eh': kar-MEH-loh. Stress stays on the second syllable in every language that uses it, so the name survives crossing between them intact.
Nicknames for Carmelo
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
- 1904
- Most boys named
- 2013516 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #515reached in 2013
- Change vs 2023
- +5.9%377 in 2025, from 356
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.
Carmelo in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Carmelo in Spanish — same name
- Carmelo in Italian — same name
- Carmelo in Portuguese — same name
- Carmel in Catalan — related form
- Carmine in Italian — related form
- Karmel in Hebrew — transliteration
Strongest US states over the last decade: Florida, Texas, California.
Carmelos among us
people named Carmelo are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 4,531 born in 2025 was named Carmelo
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Carmelo
- #710
- Carmelo on the 2025 chart
- #477
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Carmelo went to 377 boys in 2025, but Karmelo, Carmello and Karmello are the same name said out loud. Together the 4 spellings went to 570, which makes it the 477th most-given boys’ name of the year — 233 places above the chart.
About 1 boy in 2,997 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 4,531 for Carmelo 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 Domenic test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Carmelo's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Domenic climbed just as high around 1912, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Domenic's path sketches the road Carmelo is walking now.
Carmelo 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 Carmelo is headed
Carmelo 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.
Carmelo beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Carmelo in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Spelled the same in Spanish, Italian, Portuguese and English, with no transliteration to negotiate.
- An unbroken record in US births stretching back more than a century — familiar, but a child is unlikely to share it with a classmate.
- Ready-made short forms already in real use: Melo, Carmy, Mel.
- A clear feminine counterpart family — Carmela, Carmen — useful if you are thinking about future siblings.
- Traceable meaning and history, from a named mountain to a religious order to immigrant families.
- The nickname Melo is closely tied to one very famous basketball player. Expect the association to come up, and expect strangers to reach for it uninvited.
- It is a name with explicit Catholic devotional roots. Many families choose it precisely for that; if the connection is not yours, know that it will often be assumed.
- Close neighbors cause slips: Carmela, Carmine and Carmen are all in circulation, and 'caramel' will happen at least once.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Carmelo 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 Carmelo? Hide it among decoys and let them guess.
What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Carmelo
Masculine · #710 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Carmelos are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 11,000 people named Carmelo are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Carmelo?
- Carmelo is the most-used spelling in US records — 377 of the 570 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Karmelo, Carmello and Karmello.
- How popular is the name Carmelo in 2025?
- Carmelo ranks #710 among US boy names in 2025, with 377 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Carmelo?
- About 1 in every 4,531 US boys born in 2025 was named Carmelo — 377 in all.
- Will my child share the name Carmelo with classmates?
- Carmelo will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Carmelo
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Aarav#710 · Aron#710 · Layton#710 · Kenai#710 · Julien#709 · Dennis#707 · Ozias#707 · Wes#715
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Carmelo? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Carmelo 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
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