How to say it
ca · MILLE
/kəˈmiːl/
Feminine
Camille
Attendant at religious rites
What it means
French form of Latin Camilla (or its masculine Camillus), the term in Roman religion for an attendant at sacrifices. Aeneas's ally Camilla in the Aeneid was a swift warrior-maiden.
Camille is the French form of Latin Camilla (or its masculine Camillus). In Roman religion, camilli and camillae were noble young people who attended priests at sacrifices. Virgil's Aeneid features Camilla, the swift warrior-maiden ally of King Turnus against Aeneas. Alexandre Dumas fils's novel La Dame aux Camélias (1848), about the courtesan Marguerite Gautier nicknamed 'la dame aux camélias' for her camellia bouquets, was adapted as Verdi's opera La Traviata; the protagonist became Camille in English-language stage and film versions. Pissarro the painter was Camille. The name is unisex in French (Camille works for both genders) and overwhelmingly feminine in English. Cami is the standard short.
Popularity over time
peaked at #237 in 2012, currently #240 in 2025.
Source: U.S. Social Security Administration, names given to at least 5 babies in a year, 1880–present. See where the names are moving
Heads-up notes
- Pronunciation
kuh-MEEL, two syllables, stress on the second. Not kuh-MIL-uh (that's Camilla).
Who's worn it
Historical figures, characters, and public faces who share the name. The cultural surface, for whatever weight you want to give it.
- Camille (Verdi's La Traviata) English-language stage name for Marguerite Gautier, La Dame aux Camélias
- Camille Pissarro Danish-French Impressionist painter
Spelling variants
- Camilla
- Camillus
- Camila
Names with the same feeling
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