Kamila

Different traditions

Kamila has several independent origins. In Arabic it is the feminine form of Kamil, meaning “perfect” or “complete.” In Czech, Slovak, and Polish it is a form of Camilla, whose deeper meaning is uncertain. Hawaiian Kamila has another documented source, the word for “camellia.”

Arabic Kamila is written كاملة. Its meaning belongs to an Arabic word family, not to the Roman name behind the European form. In the European tradition, Camilla is the feminine of Camillus, probably an Etruscan-origin Roman family name.

Camillus is sometimes connected with a Latin term for a young religious attendant, but that explanation is not considered secure. Kamila's European history should therefore not be assigned that occupational meaning as a certainty.

Hawaiian Kamila comes from kamila, “camellia,” giving the spelling a separate floral tradition. These are genuinely different name histories that happen to meet in the same Roman letters. Hawaiian marriage records also document Kamila in the nineteenth century as a single name used by women and a man, placing this floral tradition well before the recent American rise.

Pronunciation and forms

Polish Kamila is approximately kah-MEE-lah, with stress in the middle. Czech and Slovak put the stress at the beginning: KAH-mi-lah. Arabic also begins with a stressed, long ah vowel.

Kamil is the masculine counterpart in the Arabic and several European traditions, although the two Kamil families have separate origins. Camilla, Spanish and Portuguese Camila, and Polish Kamilla are relatives of the European form.

Kamila Shamsie

Writer Kamila Shamsie won the 2018 Women's Prize for Fiction for Home Fire, her seventh novel. The novel explores identity, family loyalty, love, and politics. It had also been longlisted for the 2017 Man Booker Prize.

Shamsie's earlier novels include Burnt Shadows and A God in Every Stone, both recognized on shortlists for the Women's Prize under its earlier sponsor names. Her work gives Kamila a substantial literary association beyond a single prize ceremony.

Kamila Skolimowska

Polish athlete Kamila Skolimowska won the first Olympic women's hammer throw competition at Sydney in 2000. She was seventeen, making her achievement particularly striking in a discipline newly included for women at the Games.

Her winning throw was 71.16 meters, achieved in the third round. The performance improved her own world junior record. It placed Kamila before an international sporting audience alongside its established use in Polish everyday life.

American popularity

Kamila was recorded for 58 American girls in 2000 and 716 in 2010. Its largest recorded birth count came in 2022, with 1,383 girls and a rank of No. 214.

In 2025, 851 girls received the name, placing it at No. 357. These figures show a strong twenty-first-century rise, while combining bearers whose families may have drawn on different naming traditions.

How popular is Kamila?

In 2025, Kamila ranked #357 among girls in the United States, with 851 recorded uses. The U.S. birth records first list this spelling for girls in 1963; its largest annual count was 1,383 in 2022. Rankings count each spelling separately. They describe national use, so local familiarity can differ. The popularity chart shows whether the name has remained common, returned after a quieter period, or risen recently.