Carmen

Spellings & scripts●

Locally spelled Carmén in DO Dominican Republic.

Spellings marked ● are how people bearing the name write it in our records; ○ marks a model's transliteration. Click a spelling to open its page.

Meaning & origin●

Attested across 5 languages in the etymology graph.

Languages●

Language is read off each record's context, not declared by the bearer; a share is of all records for this spelling.

Other names spelled this way◐

Carmen is also recorded as 6 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• a separate given name307K records spelled Carmen3 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, United Kingdom, Spain, Canada

  Also written Cármen, Carmén

• French given name216K records spelled Carmen3 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in France, United States, Spain, Belgium

  Also written Carmén

• English given name43K records spelled Carmen92 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Croatia, Spain, Poland

  Languages: English, Croatian, Spanish

  Also written Karmen, Кармен

• Lao given name32K records spelled Carmen16 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Laos, Chile, United States, Spain

  Languages: Lao, Thai

  Also written Karmen, คาร์เมน, การ์เมน, คารเมน, Cärmën

• Hungarian given name25K records spelled Carmen6 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Hungary, Finland, Spain, United States

  Languages: Hungarian, Finnish, Estonian

  Also written Cärmęn, Cärmën, Çarmen

• Indonesian given name18K records spelled Carmen5 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Spain, United States, Peru, Indonesia

  Languages: Indonesian, Malay

  Also written Čäřmëň, Carmén, Cármen

93 further groups record this spelling and are not listed here.

Grouping is the name graph's, not a register's: two spellings join a group when the evidence links them, so a group is a claim about the records rather than about the people.

Other recorded senses●

Carmen is also recorded in 5 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.

• In English, Hebrew: after Mount Carmel, in the Holy Land; also 'song'.

  as a name·Baby names, 25,350 baby names nicknames for your family, friends pets, including the top 100 names, 2,000 most popular…

• Alteration of CARMEL under the influence of the word carmen ‘song’.

  as a name·A concise dictionary of first names

• In Spanish, a female given name transferred from the place name, traditionally popular in Spain

  as a word·kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

• In English, A female given name from Spanish in the nineteenth century.

  as a word·kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

• In Spanish, Del hebreo Karm-El, ‘viña de Dios’; por extensión, ‘jardín’. Influyó el latín carmen ‘canto’.

  as a name·Diccionario etimológico de nombres propios

Ordered by how much of this spelling's record each language holds, so a sense from a language the name is barely used in sits last rather than first.

Over time●

US SSA — National Baby Names (1880–present) — 145 years between 1881–2025. One register's own figures, never a sum across registers: two registers counting the same people would double them.

Notable people with this name●

• Frida Kahlob. 1907MXnot in their usual nameMexican painter (1907–1954)
• Rita Hayworthb. 1918USnot in their usual nameAmerican actress (1918–1987)
• Carmen Amayab. 1918ESSpanish flamenco dancer and singer
• Carmen McRaeb. 1920USAmerican jazz musician and actress (1922-1994)
• Carmen Argenzianob. 1943USactor from the United States (1943-2019)
• Lea Salongab. 1971PHnot in their usual nameFilipino actress and singer (born 1971)
• Carmen Electrab. 1972USAmerican actress, model, and singer
• Carmen Ejogob. 1973GBBritish actress
• Carmen Kassb. 1978EEEstonian model and actress (born 1978)
• Catharina-Amalia, Princess of Orangeb. 2003NLnot in their usual nameheir apparent to the throne of the Kingdom of the Netherlands

The ten people covered by the most Wikipedia language editions — a proxy for cross-cultural notability, which favours historical and Western figures over equally prominent contemporary ones — shown by birth year. Source: Wikidata (CC0).

Evidence●

Register rows as of the 2026-09-12 data build · 1,802 rows in the corpus for this spelling.

Frequently asked questions

How common is the name Carmen?

We estimate roughly 805 thousand people bear Carmen (counting its spellings and scripts) across 10 countries in our records.

In which country does Carmen have the most bearers?

Carmen is most frequently recorded in Venezuela, where it is most often spelled carmen.

How common is Carmen compared with other names?

In Venezuela, Carmen is the 4th most common given name of 213,120 given names recorded there.

Is Carmen a male or female name?

Carmen is a female name in our records. Opposite-gender entries fall within the cross-gender noise we measure in the source data, so we don't report them as usage.

What does the name Carmen mean?

Recorded meaning: From Latin carmen, 'song' or 'poem'; also associated with Our Lady of Mount Carmel.