MEANING & HISTORY
What does Carla mean?
Carla is a feminine form in the Carl, Karl and Charles family. Its older Germanic root is a word for man or freeman, while the ending -a belongs to the later feminine formation.
The English dictionary points to German and Italian Carla, showing that immediate use and ultimate origin are different layers. Carla is therefore best explained through its established name family rather than as a newly translated word. Karla and Carla are related spellings, but each should retain its own record identity.
Pronunciation & syllables
Dictionary readings are kept by language. Select the reading that matches your intended pronunciation. Dots show the source’s written divisions; they are not a universal syllable count across languages.
Wiktionary contributors / Kaikki / Wiktextract · CC BY-SA 4.0
Origin and name formation
Language-specific accounts from the dictionary. A shared spelling can have more than one history.
EnglishEtymology & source
From German and Italian Carla. By surface analysis, Carl + -a.
A female given name from the Germanic languages.
SpanishEtymology & source
a female given name, masculine equivalent Carlos
Adapted from Wiktionary contributors via Kaikki/Wiktextract. Source accounts remain in their original English; editorial summaries and filters are adapted. Attribution and downloads
People with the name Carla
Public figures and other documented namesakes linked by an explicit given-name claim. This is a selection of records, not a popularity ranking.
DOCUMENTED NAMESAKE
Carla Abellana
Filipino actress
The record establishes the name association, not the person’s intended meaning, pronunciation or ancestry. Descriptions are attributed to Wikidata contributors (CC0).
Use in Philippine-linked records
Wikidata
7
distinct person records with an explicit given-name claim
Community-edited coverage, not a census or birth registry. Examples: Carla Abellana, Carla Balingit
PSA · OFFICIAL BIRTH RECORDS
Carla in the birth records
Exact spelling and stated year in the published name tables. Read the counts as individual snapshots.
Tables included: 2016, 2017, 2018, 2020, 2022, 2023 and 2024. The 2016 fact sheet lists five names per sex; the later tables include ten. Missing counts are not inferred. Sex categories follow the official tables, independently of dictionary gender labels. Explore the official tables →
Similar names to Carla
Names with a similar opening or ending, ordered by spelling distance. Similar spelling does not imply the same meaning or origin.
Names in this collection
- Cara♀Beloved in Italian or friend in Irish
- Caria♀Short form of Macaria; blessed-name tradition
- Carl♂Man or freeman
- Carlo♂Italian form of Charles; man or freeman
- Karla♀Feminine form of Karl; man or freeman
- Marla♀Form of Marlene with a la ending
- Caelan♂Anglicized Caolán or a Kaylyn variant
- Cal♂Short form of Calvin and other Cal-names
What rhymes with Carla?
No dictionary-confirmed rhyme match is available for this spelling in the current catalogue.
Explore Carla further
Follow the sources
- Wikidata given-name item Q5041018 — Carla (opens in a new tab)
Given-name identity, native labels, language associations and explicit class where present; not lexical meaning or population frequency.
- Wikidata — Carla Abellana (opens in a new tab)
Explicit given-name claim P735 linking to Q5041018 and citizenship claim P27 linking to Philippines Q928; community-edited evidence, not a civil-registry record.
- Wikidata — Carla Balingit (opens in a new tab)
Explicit given-name claim P735 linking to Q5041018 and citizenship claim P27 linking to Philippines Q928; community-edited evidence, not a civil-registry record.
- Wiktionary contributors — Carla (English) (opens in a new tab)
Language-specific given-name etymology; shared spelling does not prove every bearer has this origin.
- Wiktionary contributors — Carla (Spanish) (opens in a new tab)
Language-specific given-name etymology; shared spelling does not prove every bearer has this origin.
- Dictionary of Medieval Names from European Sources — Charles (opens in a new tab)
Germanic man/freeman root of the Carl family.