Camelle
Of French origin, meaning "gift from the heavens."
Name Census estimates that about 99 living Americans carry the first name Camelle. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Camelle today is around 44 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Camelle births was 1983 (10 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Camelle. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Camelle. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
99
~ 1 in 3,462,165 Americans
Peak year
1983
10 babies that year
Average age
44
years old
2002 SSA rank
#15,854
Tracked since 1967
Census
Camelle in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 207 people with the first name Camelle, which placed it at #37,585 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#37,585
National first-name rank
People counted
207
207 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
47.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Camelle
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Camelle is Black at 47.8%. The next largest groups are White (32.9%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (6.8%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Camelle described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Camelle at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American47.8% · 99
- White32.9% · 68
- Asian and Pacific Islander6.8% · 14
- Hispanic or Latino5.8% · 12
- Two or more races5.8% · 12
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.0% · 2
Popularity
Camelle: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Camelle from the 1960s through to the 2000s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 44 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1980s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Camelle by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Camelle during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Camelle
The name Camelle is believed to have its origins in the medieval Latin language, emerging during the late Middle Ages around the 13th century. It is likely a variant or diminutive form of the more common Camilla, which traces its roots back to the ancient Roman name Camillus. The Camillus gens was a prominent patrician family in ancient Rome, and the name may have derived from the archaic Latin word camillus, meaning a young attendant or acolyte in religious ceremonies.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Camelle can be found in the writings of the Italian poet Dante Alighieri, who mentioned a character named Camella in his epic work, the Divine Comedy, written in the early 14th century. This suggests that the name was in use, at least in certain regions of Italy, during that time period.
In the 15th century, a notable figure bearing the name Camelle was the Italian painter and architect Camelle Boccaccino, who was active in the city of Cremona from around 1467 to 1518. His works, which included frescoes and altarpieces, can still be found in various churches and museums across northern Italy.
Moving into the 16th century, there are records of a French noblewoman named Camelle de Montmorency, who lived from approximately 1492 to 1547. She was a prominent figure at the court of King Francis I and was known for her patronage of the arts and her support of the French Renaissance movement.
In the 17th century, a notable bearer of the name was the Dutch botanist and naturalist Camelle van Rheede tot Drakenstein, who lived from 1636 to 1691. He was best known for his extensive work documenting the flora of the Dutch East Indies, which included the publication of the multi-volume Hortus Malabaricus, one of the earliest comprehensive treatises on the plants of the Indian subcontinent.
Another historical figure who bore the name Camelle was the French writer and philosopher Camelle Desmoulins, who lived from 1760 to 1794. He was a prominent figure during the French Revolution and was known for his fiery rhetoric and his role in the storming of the Bastille in 1789. Despite his revolutionary zeal, he was eventually executed by the very same revolutionary government he had helped to establish.
While the name Camelle has been relatively uncommon throughout history, these examples illustrate its presence across various cultures and time periods, spanning the realms of art, literature, science, and politics. The name's enduring legacy serves as a testament to its unique and intriguing origins, rooted in the languages and traditions of the ancient world.
People
Camelle + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Camelle as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with C
Other first names starting with C with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Camelle: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Camelle?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 99 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Camelle going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 3,462,165 US residents.
Is Camelle a common name?
We classify Camelle as "Very Rare". It ranks above 64.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 107 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Camelle most popular?
The single biggest year for Camelle was 1983, when 10 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Camelle is about 44 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Camelle in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 207 people with the name Camelle, or 0.07 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #37,585 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Camelle in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Camelle?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Camelle leans strongly female. 192 people counted with this name were female (91.9%), compared with 17 male bearers (8.1%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Camelle?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Camelle is Black at 47.8%. The next largest groups are White (32.9%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (6.8%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Camelle most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Camelle in the 2020 Census, accounting for 47.8% (99 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Camelle in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Camelle a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Camelle in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Camelle still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Camelle in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Camelle can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people are called Camelle?
Find out how many Americans are named Camelle on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.