Girl
Cara
As a girl's name, Cara traces back to Italian, where it is understood to mean "Italian/Gaelic". It has faded some since the 1980s without dropping off entirely. These days, it is neither rare nor overly common. In total, about 51,369 American babies have carried this name since 1900.
ItalianItalian/Gaelic
EtymologyMeaning "dear one" or "friend"
Births by decade
1900s
113
1910s
219
1920s
281
1930s
305
1940s
492
1950s
1,291
1960s
5,782
1970s
10,433
1980s
13,316
1990s
9,843
2000s
6,032
2010s
3,262
Peaked in the 1980s · 51,369 total U.S. births since 1900