Carmine
Masculine · “from Mount Carmel”
Carmine is given to both — 13,950 boys and 487 girls since 1880. See other names given to both
Carmine comes from Mount Carmel, the ridge above the Mediterranean where the Carmelite order took root in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, and it reached America in the pockets of Italian families settling the Northeast. It is one of the rare boys' names that ends in a long, open vowel — kar-MEEN, three even beats of nothing but warmth in the mouth.
How old is the name Carmine?
Carmine first appears in US birth records in 1891 — 134 years ago. The typical Carmine alive today was born around 1954, making them about 71 years old. About 7,800 people named Carmine are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Carmine most popular?
Carmine peaked in 1912, reaching #377 nationally. Today it ranks #1034, 657 places below that high. See the whole 1912 chart.
Carmine appears on these lists:
Where it comes from
From Karmel to Carmine
The story of Carmine
Mount Carmel is a real ridge in northern Israel, and its Hebrew name karmel means garden or orchard — land that grows things. Hermits living on that ridge became the Carmelite order in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, and devotion to Our Lady of Mount Carmel spread across Catholic Europe, taking deepest hold in southern Italy. There the devotional title turned into given names: Carmela and Carmelo for the older forms, Carmine as the masculine name that families in Campania and Naples used generation after generation. Italian emigration then carried it to New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, which is still where the name is most concentrated in the United States.
Meaning
from Mount Carmel; the Hebrew place-name means 'garden' or 'orchard'
Carmine is the Italian masculine name formed from the Marian title Maria del Carmine, Our Lady of Mount Carmel — the same source as Carmela, Carmelo and Spanish Carmen. Two coincidences are worth knowing and neither is the origin: the English word carmine, a deep red pigment, arrived separately through Arabic qirmiz, and Latin carmen, 'song', simply happens to look similar.
How the name formed
- Karmel
- Carmelus
- Carmelo
- Carmine
Related forms: Carmine · Carmelo · Carmelo · Carmen · Carmela · Carmel
Pronouncing Carmine
kar-MEEN
kar-MEEN is the Italian and Italian-American pronunciation and the usual one for the name. Some English speakers reach instead for KAR-mine or KAR-min, following the color word, so expect to correct people occasionally.
Nicknames for Carmine
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
- 1891
- Most boys named
- 1922230 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #377reached in 1912
- Change vs 2022
- +41.7%214 in 2025, from 151
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.
Carmine in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Carmine in Italian — same name
- Carmelo in Italian — related form
- Carmelo in Spanish — related form
- Carmen in Spanish — related form
- Carmela in Italian — related form
- Carmel in English — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania.
Carmines among us
people named Carmine are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 7,982 born in 2025 was named Carmine
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
Carmine is on its second act. Revived names age gently: the generation that wore them first is far enough away that the name feels classic rather than dated.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Carmine is headed
Carmine looks set to keep climbing gently, with roughly 18% more babies a year by 2030 if the current curve holds.
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.
Carmine beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Carmine in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The spelling needs no explaining — English already has the word carmine, so people can read it at first sight even when they mispronounce it.
- Belongs to a whole family of names in daily use: Carmela, Carmelo, Carmen, Carmel. Cousins and grandparents may already be in it.
- Centuries of unbroken use in southern Italy behind it, and a continuous American record since the era of Italian immigration.
- A ready-made short form in Carm, plus the Italian diminutive Mino.
- Two pronunciations circulate, kar-MEEN and KAR-mine, and the color word pulls people toward the second. A lifetime of small corrections is likely.
- American film and television have handed the name to a good many Italian-American characters on the wrong side of the law. Some families hear that association immediately; others never think of it.
- Its roots are firmly in New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Elsewhere in the country it will read as more unfamiliar, and most people who share it are of an older generation, so a boy given it now will likely be the only young Carmine around.
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What they receive
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Carmine
Masculine · #1034 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Carmines are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 7,800 people named Carmine are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Carmine in 2025?
- Carmine ranks #1034 among US boy names in 2025, with 214 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Carmine?
- About 1 in every 7,982 US boys born in 2025 was named Carmine — 214 in all.
- Will my child share the name Carmine with classmates?
- Carmine will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Carmine
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Kelvin#1034 · Zavier#1034 · Avraham#1034 · Shai#1030 · Ivaan#1030 · Blaise#1038 · Kellan#1030 · Brodie#1038
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Carmine? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Carmine and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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