Carla

Carla: name meaning, origin & popularity

Meaning: “free woman”
Origin: Germanic
Say it: KAR-luh · 2 syllables
Used for: Girls

Feminine form of Carl or Carlo, from Germanic Karl meaning 'man' or 'free man'. Widely used in several European languages.

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How popular is Carla?

202476.0 per million US babies

Drag the line or the slider to read any year. Values are per million US births recorded by Social Security. Records before about 1937 undercount births, so early peaks can look taller than they were.

Compare with another name

Babies named Carla in 2024252

2024 rank#1,012 girls

Peak year1962

Total US babies since 1880150,588

Carla is steady now but far below its 1962 peak.

Names like Carla

Variants, related forms and names with the same roots.

Carlosfree man · Germanic
Carlfree man · Germanic
Carlyfree man · Germanic
Karlfree man · Germanic
Karliefree man · Germanic
Carliefree man · Germanic
Karlyfree man · Germanic
Carlenefree woman · English

Carla questions

What does the name Carla mean?

Carla means "free woman". It comes from Germanic. Feminine form of Carl or Carlo, from Germanic Karl meaning 'man' or 'free man'. Widely used in several European languages.

Is Carla a boy or girl name?

Carla is mainly a girl's name in US records (100% of uses since 1880).

How popular is Carla?

252 US babies were named Carla in 2024. Its peak year was 1962.

How do you pronounce Carla?

Carla is usually pronounced KAR-luh.

Birth counts: US Social Security Administration national data, 1880–2024 (names given to 5+ babies of a sex in a year). How we write meanings.