Carmela

Where Carmela comes from

Carmela hasn't made it into the dictionaries we draw on, and nobody well known enough for an encyclopedia has carried it yet — so for now its story is the one the SSA record tells. Names that spell a familiar sound a new way often live here for a while before anyone writes them down.

  • Vowel-ended
Along the way
  1. 1882
    First appearance
    #908 among girls, 5 babies — the first year at least five got the name.
  2. 1923
    Peak, #266
    586 babies named Carmela — more than any year before or since.
  3. 1934
    The fade
    The first year with half the peak's births — down to #388.
  4. 1938
    Carmela Corren born
    Israeli singer and actress
  5. 1991
    Carmela Zumbado born
    American actress and social media personality
In the dictionary

No dictionary entry for this spelling — which is its own kind of rare.

Namesakes
  • Carmela Corren · Israeli singer and actress, 1938–2022
  • Carmela Zumbado · American actress and social media personality, born 1991
  • Carmela Silva · Spanish politician, born 1960
  • Carmela Chiacchio · Italian boxer, born 1981
  • Carmela Jeria Gómez · Chilean labour activist, typesetter and editor, 1901–1966

Sources: the origin note and dictionary entry are quoted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0); the namesakes come from Wikidata (CC0); the milestones are worked out from the SSA record.