Updated November 2023
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Spanish variation of Carmel or Latin
"garden or song"
Carmen has long been associated with the sensuous, tragic heroine of Bizet's opera, based on a novel by Prosper Merimee; more recently it has called to mind two other bombshells: Carmen Miranda (born…
Spanish and Italian from Hebrew
"garden"
Carmelo is a well-used Hispanic name associated with Mt. Carmel, home of the prophet Elijah and the location of the convent for the order of Carmelites. Carmelo is also a saint's name and — in modern…
Scottish
"garden of holly"
A Scottish place and surname that was once adrogynous but now leans about 20 to 1 toward the girls' side, Leslie has a pleasant, heathery feel that kept it in or near the Top 100 for several decades;…
Old English
"settlement with a leek garden"
This first name was once a surname derived from Old English. Used quietly a century ago, the current fashion for two-syllable boy names ending in n makes this one a new hit.
Italian and Spanish variation of Carmel
Carmela has been most famous recently as the name of Tony Soprano's TV wife, played by Edie Falco. The spellings Carmela and Carmella are both used in Latin cultures including Italian, Spanish, and…
The most popular variation of this name for baby girls is Leighton, as in Leighton Meester, the actress who introduced her name to the mainstream when she rose to fame on Gossip Girl .
Bengali and Urdu
"paradise, garden"
Jannat is derived from the Arabic word jannah , which refers to the final paradise for good souls in the afterlife. Jannat is primarily used among Indian and Pakistani Muslims. Cennet is the Turkish…
This Scottish place name and surname was more popular for boys in the US until the mid-1940s; in the UK, the Leslie spelling is predominantly masculine, with Lesley widely used as the feminine…
Hebrew
Carmel is a biblical place-name that is often used by Catholic parents around the world. It is given in honor of Our Lady of Mount Carmel and is the name of a mountain ridge on the Mediterranean near…
English
"keeper of the garden"
Surely one of the most pleasant and evocative of the occupational options.
Diminutive of Carmela, Italian and Spanish
"garden, garden of God"
An elaborate diminutive of Carmela or Carmel, this name has elegance and sweetness. Derived from Hebrew, it is interpreted as meaning "garden" — or sometimes "garden of God" — and is related to the…
Diminutive of Carmel, Hebrew
Carmelita is an obscure short form of an obscure name that may rise to new prominence during the 2012 Olympics, via runner Carmelita Jeter aka "The World's Fastest Woman." Carmelita has a…
Diminutive of Carmen or Carmelo, Hebrew, Spanish and Italian
This old-school short form is showing signs of life thanks to the FX series The Bear , featuring Jeremy Allen White as Carmen "Carmy" Berzatto. The Carmi spelling updates it for a 21st-century baby.
Hindi, Hawaiian
"lotus or pale red; or, a garden"
A multicultural name that manages to sound soft and strong at the same time, Kamala is also another name for the Hindu goddess Lakshmi. Vice President Kamala Harris, who describes her own name's…
Arabic
This Muslim girls' name has never gotten much use in the US, but Somali model Rawdah Mohamed may draw more attention to her name.
Diminutive of Carmen or Carmella, Hebrew, Spanish, and Italian
A short and sweet diminutive that has the fashionable -i ending.
One of the best of this fashionable occupational group, strong and particularly well suited to a girl, also with alluring connection to glamour girl Ava Gardner.
Catalan and Galician form of Carmel, Hebrew
Currently considered a grandma name in Catalonia, but fresh and unusual (though easily confused with Karma) elsewhere.
Latin
One of the most pleasant and evocative of the hot new occupational names. Related name: Gardner, as in Ava.
"of the garden"
Hortense is actually the French feminine form of Hortensia, the name of a strong, politically active early Roman woman. Hortense began to be used in the English-speaking world in the nineteenth…