Carmel
One of the rare Polish names given to girls and boys in near-equal measure: of the 65 people who carry it, a good third are men. From Hebrew, it names a garden or orchard, and hardly anyone gives it now.
Carmel Pronunciation
Carmel is pronounced TSAHR-mel (/ˈt͡sarmɛl/).
What Carmel means
Where Carmel comes from and what it has meant to the people who carry it.
Carmel comes from Hebrew, from the word karmel, meaning garden or orchard, a stretch of fertile ground. The same word names a ridge above the sea in northern Israel, Mount Carmel. On its planted slopes the land ran green and fruitful. The name held that meaning: a garden, an orchard, a field that bears.
The Jewish association sits close to the surface. Some readers split karmel into kerem-El, the vineyard of God, and that reading is where the Polish gloss winnica boga comes from. So the orchard is not any orchard. It belongs to God.
Carmel has no diminutives and no variant forms. That keeps it close to the Hebrew shape, four letters, easy to say. On a Polish school register it reads plainly. What the name points back to is an orchard.
How many people are named Carmel
1 in 460078 women in Poland is named Carmel. 65 people carry it in the 2025 register: rank #4507 among female names.
Carmel's popularity over time
Fewer than 2 girls were given the name in 2025. It has been stable for a decade.
Carmel as a middle name
Carmel is a first name for 65 women in Poland and a middle name for another 18, a 78/22 split. In the women's middle-name ranking it sits 1707th, between Carlotta (18) and Chrystiana (18).
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#1705 Camelia18
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#1706 Carlotta18
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#1707 Carmel18
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#1708 Chrystiana18
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#1709 Claudine18