Carmen

What Carmen means

Meaning not yet sourced. Wiktionary has no word-by-word meaning for Carmen yet, and we don’t write our own.

Editor’s note Peaked in the US in 1960, with 2,440 babies; 798 in 2025 Worked out from the official US and England & Wales counts, not a meaning.

How popular is Carmen?

US: Steady: #380 in 2015, #389 now. England & Wales: Falling: down from #609 in 2015.

Biggest US share so far: 1968, when 2,270 girls got the name (#141 that year). First in the US records in 1881.

How common

• About 1 in 2,014 baby girls in the US in 2025
• About 1 in 5,506 baby girls in England and Wales in 2025
• About 1 in 5,964 baby girls in Scotland in 2025

“1 in N” divides by all listed births for that sex. The US list leaves out names given to fewer than 5 babies, and the UK lists leave out names given to 2 or fewer, so the real figure is a little rarer than shown.

Where in the US

Most popular in MS (1.24 per 1,000 girls), NM (1.07 per 1,000 girls), IA (1.02 per 1,000 girls) in 2025.

SSA state data, 2025. Share of all listed girls born in each state.

US vs UK

Carmen is #389 in the US and #792 in England & Wales (2025).

Same sex as this page (girls). SSA (US), ONS (England and Wales), NRS (Scotland).

Boy or girl?

In 2025, 88.5% of US babies named Carmen were girls.

Counts below the publishing threshold (US 5, UK 3) are not included.

How to say it

IPA from Wiktionary.

Other spellings parents chose in 2025

• Karmen105 US · 5 E&W
• Karmyn51 US
• Carmyn40 US
• Karmin11 US
• Carmine6 US
• Carmin6 US
• Karman5 US

Names that sound the same and differ by a letter or two, with baby counts for the same sex. US and E&W counts.

If you like Carmen

Girls

• Angel#546Editor’s note Peaked in the US in 2002, with 3,100 babies; 551 in 2025
• Andrea#235Feminine form of Andreas, meaning “manly”^*
• Alejandra#604Same root as Alexandra, meaning “to defend + man”^*
• Bianca#500Form of Blanche, meaning “white”^*
• Ana#245Editor’s note Down from #211 in 2015 to #245 in 2025 in the US
• Angelica#707Italian, meaning “angelic”^*

For a brother

• Juan#159Spanish, meaning “Yahweh is gracious”^*
• Carlos#150Spanish and Portuguese form of Charles, meaning “free man”^*
• Ernesto#878Spanish form of Ernest, meaning “vigor, strife”^*
• Orlando#871Same root as Roland, meaning “fame-land”^*
• Luis#144Same root as Louis, meaning “loud; famous + battle”^*
• Felipe#955Spanish and Portuguese, meaning “fond of horses”^*

Picked from the US top 1,000 in 2025: names Wiktionary also files under Spanish & Italian, whose US popularity since 1990 rose and fell most like Carmen’s. Rank is US 2025.