According to the U.S. baby name data, the name Cara saw a spike in usage in 1965:
- 1967: 604 baby girls named Cara [rank: 366th]
- 1966: 677 baby girls named Cara [rank: 347th]
- 1965: 987 baby girls named Cara [rank: 274th]
- 1964: 663 baby girls named Cara [rank: 366th]
- 1963: 682 baby girls named Cara [rank: 368th]
What caused the brief increase?
The 1965 pop song “Cara Mia” could be a secondary influence here, but I think the main influence was a single-season sitcom called The Cara Williams Show, which aired from 1964 to 1965 (30 episodes) on CBS.
The star of the show was actress Cara Williams, who played a scatterbrained character also named Cara. Fictional Cara went by two different surnames: Bridges (her married name) at home, and Wilton (her maiden name) at work. Why? Because she and her husband Frank (played by actor Frank Aletter) were co-workers at a company that forbade the employment of married couples. They therefore went to great lengths to conceal their marriage from their boss.
Cara Williams — a “perky redhead” often compared to Lucille Ball — was born Bernice Kamiat in New York City in 1925.
What are your thoughts on the name Cara?
Sources:
- Cara Williams – Wikipedia
- Leszczak, Bob. Single Season Sitcoms, 1948–1979: A Complete Guide. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, 2012.
- Barnes, Mike. “Cara Williams, Sitcom Star and Oscar Nominee for ‘The Defiant Ones,’ Dies at 96.” Hollywood Reporter 11 Dec. 2021.
- SSA
Image: Screenshot of The Cara Williams Show
Was Cara in the TV show pronounced as CAR-uh or CARE-uh? In the song, the name is CAR-uh, but my first inclination is to pronounce that name as CARE-uh.
It was pronounced CARE-uh on the show. Here’s her boss saying her name in the first episode:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VcPTNnJaNXQ&t=739s