How Many People Are Named Cara?
An estimated 48,344 people in the United States have the first name Cara. It is almost exclusively a female name. The average bearer is 39 years old, and Cara peaked in popularity in 1985 with 1,472 births that year.
Below you will find a full statistical profile of Cara as a first name in the United States, including gender data, a year-by-year popularity timeline going back to 1880, a decade breakdown, and state-by-state birth registrations. You can also check how many people share the full name Cara paired with any surname.
Key Insights
- While Cara is overwhelmingly female, 62 male births have been registered with this name since 1880.
Estimated Living Americans
48,344
About 1 in 7,090 people in the U.S.
Rarity
Uncommon
Predicted Gender
Female
99.9% confidence
Average Age
39
years old
Peak Year
1985
1,472 births
Total Registered
53,197
since 1880
Gender Distribution for Cara
Cara is almost exclusively a female name. Out of 53,197 total births registered, 99.9% were female.
Cara as a male name
Ranked #8,599 in 1992
5 male births in 1992
Peak: 1989 (9 births)
Cara as a female name
Ranked #1,294 in 2024
178 female births in 2024
Peak: 1985 (1,465 births)
Cara: Popularity Over Time
SSA records for Cara span from the 1880s to the 2020s, covering 15 decades of naming data. The most popular decade for this name was the 1980s, when 13,317 babies were registered. Cara has declined significantly from its peak in the 1980s. Recent registrations are a fraction of what they were at the name's height.
Cara by Decade
How has Cara tracked across different eras? The table below groups all SSA birth registrations into 10-year periods, with separate male and female counts. The colored bar shows each decade's share relative to the peak.
Cara by State
Birth registrations for Cara span all 51 states and territories in the SSA database. The highest counts are in California, New York, Texas. The lowest are in Alaska, Wyoming, Delaware. On average, about 958 Caras were registered per state.
Cara + Last Name Combinations
How many people share a full name with Cara as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Names Similar to Cara
Other first names starting with C with a similar number of bearers.
Cara: Questions and Answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Cara?
We estimate approximately 48,344 people named Cara are alive in the United States today. This is based on SSA birth records from 1880 to 2024, adjusted for mortality using CDC life tables. About 1 in 7,090 Americans share this first name.
Is Cara a common name?
Cara is classified as "Uncommon" and is more popular than 99.1% of all first names in the SSA database. A total of 53,197 births have been registered with this name since 1880.
When was Cara most popular?
Cara reached peak popularity in 1985, when 1,472 babies were given this name. The average age of a living person named Cara is approximately 39 years old, reflecting when the name was most commonly given.
Is Cara a female name?
Cara is predominantly female. 99.9% of people with this name are female. See the gender breakdown above for full details.
How many Cara Smiths are there?
To find how many people share a specific full name, we combine first name and surname frequencies. Try: Cara Smith, Cara Johnson, Cara Williams. You can also search any combination on our homepage.
Where does this data come from?
Our estimates use Social Security Administration birth records (1880 to 2024), adjusted for survival using CDC 2023 life tables broken down by sex. The U.S. population figure (342,754,338) is from the Census Bureau's July 2025 estimate. Full methodology.
Search for a full name combination
How Many of Me