Cara
Cara was the 1326th most popular name for girls in 2025, given to 168 babies. Its best year was 1985, when it ranked 184th with 1,465 babies. Over the last ten years it has moved down 596 places. More babies were named Cara in the 1980s than in any other decade.
Meaning (as Kara) variant of Cara ('dear') · Italian, Latin, Irish
- Rank in 2025
- #1,326 girls, down 418 places since 2020
- Babies in 2025
- 168girls
- Girls and boys
- Almost always a girl’s name2021–2025
- Peak year
- 19851,465 babies
- Total since 1880
- 53,367babies recorded
What does the name Cara mean?
Cara is a spelling of Kara, pronounced the same way, so it shares Kara's meaning and origin.
Kara is listed by Wiktionary as a variant of Cara. Cara is the Italian and Latin word for 'dear, beloved' (feminine of caro), and is also the Irish word cara 'friend'. Kara is separately a Turkish word meaning 'black' and occurs in Turkic names, and it appears in other languages too. In the US it became common in the 1970s and 1980s.
cara (Italian / Latin, “dear, beloved”)cara (Irish, “friend”)
How sure is this? Probable.
Related names: Cara, Karah, Carina.
See also: Latin names, names that mean love.
Sources for this meaning
- Wiktionary, entry 'Kara', Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0; facts restated, no text reused)
- Wiktionary, entry 'Cara', Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0; facts restated, no text reused)
- US Social Security Administration, national baby-name data 1880-2025 (our computation), SSA (public domain)
Cara popularity since 1880
A few boys are given the name too: 62 since 1976.
| Year | Rank (girls) | Babies (girls) |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | #1,326 | 168 |
| 2020 | #908 | 289 |
| 2010 | #643 | 460 |
| 2000 | #393 | 732 |
| 1990 | #234 | 1,212 |
| 1980 | #203 | 1,276 |
| 1970 | #351 | 716 |
| 1960 | #663 | 234 |
| 1950 | #1,101 | 70 |
| 1940 | #1,221 | 36 |
| 1930 | #1,465 | 28 |
| 1920 | #2,085 | 18 |
| 1910 | #1,004 | 19 |
| 1900 | #923 | 17 |
| 1890 | #1,113 | 7 |
| 1880 | — | — |
How popular is Cara, counting every spelling?
Cara is a spelling of Kara, a name family that ranked #702 for girls in 2025 once every spelling is counted together, compared with #1,326 for Cara on its own. Together these spellings went to 407 girls in 2025.
| Spelling | Babies 2025 | Official rank | Babies 2021–2025 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kara | 226 | #1,075 | 1,462 |
| Cara | 168 | #1,326 | 984 |
| Kera | 8 | #11,430 | 47 |
| Karah | — | — | 45 |
Spellings count together when they sound the same in American English and are used for the same sex; nicknames and forms that sound different (such as Theo and Theodore) are kept apart. How we group spellings.
How many kids will share the name Cara?
168 of the 3,606,400 babies born in the US in 2025 were named Cara (0.05 per 1,000 births). For a girl named Cara born in 2025, the chance that another child with the same name is in a class of 20 children the same age is under 1 in 50. If every grade liked the name as much as the 2025 babies do, only about one elementary school in 50 (of 430 pupils) would have a child named Cara.
Shares of all registered births (NCHS); classes assumed to be children born the same year. How we estimate this.
How old are people named Cara?
About 49,800 people born in the US named Cara are alive today, with a median age of 40; half are between 28 and 50. That makes Cara mostly worn by adults in their thirties to fifties.
Babies given the name each year (SSA) times the share of that birth year still alive (SSA life tables). Counts people born in the US only. Method.
Cara by state
How common Cara was among girls born in each state in 2021–2025. It is notably more common than nationally in Massachusetts (2.5×), New Jersey (2.1×), New York (1.8×), Pennsylvania (1.7×), Illinois (1.6×). In 28 states fewer than five girls a year got the name, too few for SSA to publish, so those states show as zero.
Names with a similar history
These names rose and fell in step with Cara: their share of US girls followed the most similar curve since 1880. If you like Cara, they share its era and feel.
Questions about the name Cara
What does Cara mean?
Cara is a spelling of Kara, which means “variant of Cara ('dear')” (Italian, Latin, Irish origin). Certainty: probable.
How popular is the name Cara?
Cara was the 1326th most popular name for girls in 2025, given to 168 babies. Its best year was 1985, when it ranked 184th with 1,465 babies. Over the last ten years it has moved down 596 places. More babies were named Cara in the 1980s than in any other decade.
Is Cara a boy or girl name?
In 2021–2025, almost always a girl’s name given the name Cara in the US.
Where is Cara most popular?
In 2021–2025, Cara was most common in Massachusetts (0.30 per 1,000 girls), followed by New Jersey and New York.