How popular is the baby name Carla in the United States right now? How popular was it historically? Use the popularity graph and data table below to find out! Plus, see all the blog posts that mention the name Carla.

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Popularity of the baby name Carla


Posts that mention the name Carla

Popular baby names in Spain, 2013

Flag of Spain
Flag of Spain

What are the top baby names in Spain?

According to data from the Instituto Nacional de Estadística, the most popular baby names last year were Lucia and Hugo.

Here are Spain’s top 20 girl names and top 20 boy names of 2013:

Girl NamesBoy Names
1. Lucia
2. Maria
3. Paula
4. Daniela
5. Martina
6. Carla
7. Sara
8. Sofia
9. Valeria
10. Julia
11. Alba
12. Claudia
13. Noa
14. Marta
15. Irene
16. Emma
17. Carmen
18. Laura
19. Ana
20. Ainhoa		1. Hugo
2. Daniel
3. Pablo
4. Alejandro
5. Alvaro
6. Adrian
7. David
8. Mario
9. Diego
10. Javier
11. Lucas
12. Nicolas
13. Manuel
14. Marcos
15. Iker
16. Sergio
17. Izan
18. Jorge
19. Carlos
20. Martin

I found this list via Name News by Clare, who said:

So many names I’d never have guessed (and, in some cases, have never heard of) here, like Alvaro, Ainhoa, Aitana, Leire, Nerea, and Ainara.

I agree. I also didn’t expect to see the boy names Aitor (35th), Asier (58th) or Unai (60th). Or the girl name Africa, which was 68th — way more common in Spain than here.

(Aitana, Leire, Nerea, and Ainara ranked 26th, 28th, 31st and 29th for girls, respectively.)

I haven’t blogged about the top names in Spain before, but I did have a post about the top names in Catalonia last year. Weirdly, I looked up Unai for that post — it’s Basque and means “cowherd.”

Source: Instituto Nacional de Estadística (via Name News, via Nomes e mais nomes)

Image: Adapted from Flag of Spain (public domain)

Popular baby names in Malta, 2013

Flag of Malta
Flag of Malta

Malta’s top baby names of 2013 came out a few weeks ago.

According to data from the National Statistics Office, the most popular name-groups last year were Elena/Elenia/Helena/Ella and Luke/Luca/Lucas.

Here are Malta’s top 20 girl name-groups and top 20 boy name-groups of 2013:

Girl Names

  1. Elena/Elenia/Helena/Ella, 106 baby girls (5.5% of all girls)
  2. Eliza/Elisa/Elizabeth/Elise, 78
  3. Julia/Yulia/Julianne, 69
  4. Emma/Emmanuela/Ema, 51
  5. Maya/Mia/Myah, 47
  6. Maria/Marija/Mariah/Marie, 42
  7. Lea/Leah/Leia, 37
  8. Martina/Martine, 36
  9. Christina/Christa/Christabel/Krystle, 35
  10. Kailey/Kai/Kaleigh, 34 (3-way tie)
    • Catherine/Katrina/Kate/Katya, 34 (3-way tie)
    • Emilia/Emily/Emelie, 34 (3-way tie)
  11. Amy/Aimee, 32
  12. Anna/Hannah/Ann, 31
  13. Mikela/Makaila/Michelle, 27 (tie)
    • Alison/Alice/Alicia/Alyssa/Aly, 27 (tie)
  14. Sophia/Sophie, 26
  15. Jade/Giada, 22 (tie)
    • Alexandra/Alessia/Alexia/Lexi, 22 (tie)
  16. Aaliyah/Alaya, 21
  17. Chloe/Khloe, 20 (3-way tie)
    • Amber/Amberley, 20 (3-way tie)
    • Karla/Carla/Carly, 20 (3-way tie)
  18. Jasmine/Yasmine/Yasmeen, 17 (3-way tie)
    • Nina, 17 (3-way tie)
    • Faith, 17 (3-way tie)
  19. Hailey/Hailee/Hayleigh, 16
  20. Nicole/Nicola/Nicky, 14 (4-way tie)
    • Rachel/Raquel, 14 (4-way tie)
    • Keira/Kyra, 14 (4-way tie)
    • Claire/Clara/Clarisse, 14 (4-way tie)

Boy Names

  1. Luke/Luca/Lucas, 106 baby boys (5% of all boys)
  2. Matthew/Matthias/Matteo, 93
  3. Jacob/Jake, 70
  4. Zachary/Zak/Zack, 56
  5. John/Jean/Jonathan/Juan/Gan, 53 (tie)
    • Michael/Miguel/Mikhail, 53 (tie)
  6. Andrew/Andreas/Andre/Andy, 46
  7. Kaiden/Kayden/Kai, 45 (tie)
    • Alexander/Alessandro/Alec, 45 (tie)
  8. Aiden/Ayden, 43
  9. Liam/William, 42
  10. Nicholas/Nick/Nicolai, 41
  11. Benjamin/Ben, 40
  12. Daniel/Dan/Danil, 33
  13. Isaac/Izaak, 32 (tie)
    • Mason/Maison, 32 (tie)
  14. Jack/Jackson/Jacques, 30
  15. Jaden/Jayden/Jadon, 29 (tie)
    • Thomas/Tommas/Tommy, 29 (tie)
  16. Nathan/Nathaniel, 28
  17. Julian/Julien/Guiliano, 27
  18. Gabriel/Gabrijel/Gabryl, 24 (tie)
    • Adam, 24 (tie)
  19. Joseph/Beppe/Giuseppe/Josef, 23 (tie)
    • Noah, 23 (tie)
  20. James/Jamie/Jayme, 22 (3-way tie)
    • Samuel/Sam, 22 (3-way tie)
    • Keiran/Kyran, 22 (3-way tie)

Some of the unusual names registered in Malta last year were Aizley, Amporn, Breeze, Chinenye, Coco, Delson, Diyas, Enonima, Freedom, Gundula, Jaceyrhaer, Kobbun, Limoni, Love, Netsrik, Summer, Symphony, Zarkareia and Zveyrone.

Malta’s 2012 list was topped by Eliza/Lisa/Elsie/Elyse/Bettina and Matthew/Matthias/Matteo.

Sources: NSO – Naming Babies: 2013, Quality and Amporn top the list of unusual names

Image: Adapted from Flag of Malta (public domain)

Popular baby names in Catalonia (Spain), 2012

Last year, the top baby names in Catalonia — an autonomous region in northeastern Spain — were Marc for boys and Julia for girls.

Here are Catalonia’s top 20 girl names and top 20 boy names of 2012:

Baby Girl NamesBaby Boy Names
1. Júlia/Julia (954 baby girls)
2. Martina (889)
3. Laia (833)
4. Carla (748)
5. Paula (697)
6. Maria/María (683)
7. Lucía (656)
8. Aina (591)
9. Noa (548)
10. Sara (529)
11. Clàudia/Claudia (528)
12. Emma (515)
13. Ariadna (452)
14. Alba (451)
15. Abril (380)
16. Arlet (369)
17. Daniela (355)
18. Jana (348)
19. Berta (338)
20. Ona (333)		1. Marc (1,125 baby boys)
2. Àlex/Álex (753)
3. Èric/Eric (735)
4. Pol (696)
5. Pau (669)
6. Hugo (640)
7. Biel (636)
8. Arnau (621)
9. Gerard (600)
10. Jan (589)
11. Martí (577)
12. Nil (538)
13. Aleix (450)
14. David (441)
15. Oriol (431)
16. Daniel (425)
17. Adam (405)
18. Joel (379)
19. Adrià (373)
20. Iker (372)

Iker, regularly a top-20 name in Catalonia, was rare in the U.S. just a decade ago. Today, usage of Iker is rising rapidly. It entered the top 1,000 in 2010 and already ranked 230th in 2012.

Who kicked off the Iker trend? Soccer player Iker Casillas Fernandez. (His younger brother also has an interesting name — Unai, a Basque word meaning “cowherd.”)

Source: Institut d’Estadística de Catalunya

Baby names with CAR: Carter, Scarlett, Oscar

Are you a car-lover looking for baby names that contain the word CAR?

If so, you’re in luck!

Because below you’ll find a long list of names that contain the letter sequence “c-a-r.” Most of these names come directly from the U.S. SSA’s baby name data.

  • Aboubacar
  • Alcario
  • Alucard
  • Amilcar
  • Boubacar
  • Cara, Carra, Carah, Carrah, Caragh
  • Carabella
  • Caradoc
  • Caraline, Caralina
  • Caralyn, Caralynn
  • Caramia
  • Carbon
  • Cardale
  • Cardarius
  • Cardea
  • Cardel, Cardell
  • Cardelia
  • Cardella
  • Carden, Cardin, Cardon, Cardyn
  • Carder
  • Cardero
  • Cardi
  • Cardinal
  • Careem
  • Careen, Carreen
  • Carel, Carell, Carrel, Carrell
  • Careli
  • Caren, Carin, Caron, Caryn
  • Carena
  • Carenda
  • Caressa, Caresa, Carressa
  • Caresse, Caress
  • Caretha
  • Caretta
  • Carice
  • Caricia
  • Caridad
  • Carilee
  • Carina, Careena
  • Carine, Carinne, Carrine
  • Cario
  • Carisma
  • Carissa, Carisa, Caryssa, Carrisa, Carrissa
  • Carita
  • Carl
  • Carla
  • Carlan, Carlann
  • Carland
  • Carlasia
  • Carlene, Carleen, Carlean
  • Carletha, Carlethia
  • Carlia, Carlea, Carleah, Carliya, Carliyah
  • Carlier
  • Carlin, Carlon
  • Carlina, Carlena, Carleena
  • Carline
  • Carlis, Carliss
  • Carlisa
  • Carlissa
  • Carlisle, Carlyle
  • Carlito
  • Carlitos
  • Carlo
  • Carlos
  • Carlota, Carlotta
  • Carlson
  • Carly, Carlee, Carley, Carleigh, Carlie, Carli, Carlei
  • Carlton, Carleton
  • Carlynn, Carlyn
  • Carma
  • Carmani
  • Carmel
  • Carmela, Carmella
  • Carmelia
  • Carmelo, Carmello
  • Carmen
  • Carmesha, Carmeshia
  • Carmi, Carmie
  • Carmilla
  • Carmin
  • Carmina
  • Carmine
  • Carmisha
  • Carmo
  • Carnation
  • Carnel, Carnell
  • Carnelia
  • Carnella
  • Carnetta
  • Carney, Carnie
  • Carnesha, Carneshia
  • Carnisha
  • Carnita
  • Carol, Carole, Carrol, Carroll, Caryl
  • Carola
  • Carolann, Carolanne
  • Carold
  • Caroldean, Caroldine
  • Carolee, Caralee
  • Caroleen, Carolene
  • Carolen,
  • Caroletta, Carolette
  • Carolina, Caroleena, Carolena
  • Caroline, Carolyne
  • Carolus
  • Carolyn, Carolynn, Carolin
  • Carpenter
  • Carper
  • Carr
  • Carranza
  • Carrera
  • Carrick
  • Carriana, Carrianna, Carianna, Cariana
  • Carrie, Carri, Carey, Cary, Carie, Cari
  • Carrieann, Carrieanne, Carriann, Carrianne, Cariann, Carianne
  • Carrigan
  • Carrington
  • Carshena
  • Carson, Carsen, Carsin, Carsyn, Carsynn
  • Carsten
  • Carston
  • Cartavious
  • Carter, Cartyr
  • Cartez
  • Cartha
  • Carthel, Carthell
  • Carti
  • Cartier
  • Cartina
  • Cartisha
  • Cartlin
  • Cartney
  • Cartrell
  • Cartrina
  • Caruso
  • Carvel, Carvell
  • Carver
  • Carvin
  • Carwyn, Carwin
  • Carys, Caris, Carris
  • Carzell
  • Dacari
  • Decari
  • Encarna
  • Encarnación
  • Escarlett, Escarlet, Escarleth
  • Giancarlo
  • Giscard
  • Hamilcar
  • Icarus
  • Jacari, Jhacari
  • Jocari
  • Licarayén
  • Lucario
  • Macarena
  • Macari
  • Macaria
  • Macario
  • Macarius
  • McArthur, MacArthur
  • McCartney
  • Policarpia
  • Policarpio
  • Ricarda, Riccarda
  • Ricardo, Riccardo
  • Tocara, Tocarra, Toccara, Toccarra
  • Zacarias
  • Zacariah, Zacaria
  • Zacari, Zacary
  • Zaccaria

Some of these names could be considered variants of the more popular CAR names, though it’s hard to tell. For instance, Caralynn — is it a form of Caroline? Is it Cara + Lynn? (Maybe a bit of both?) Others are non-traditional spellings of more common names such as Karim, Karen, and Cornelia.

Which CAR name do you like most? Let me know in the comments!

P.S. I just wanted to note — for all my fellow lefties out there — that both Cara and Carter are typed entirely with the left hand on a standard QWERTY keyboard. :)

Image: Adapted from AvMalecon-LaHabanaCuba by Ezarate under CC BY-SA 4.0.

[Latest update: Dec. 2023]