Carmen (name)

Carmen is a unisex given name that represents two names taken as one. Its first (and original) root is Italian, Spanish and Portuguese, used as a diminutive nickname for Carmel and Carmelo (respectively), from Hebrew karmel, "God's vineyard." The second (and more recent) origin is from Latin carmen, which means "song," "tune," or "poem" and is also the root of the English word charm. The name of the Roman Goddess Carmenta based on this root comes from the purely Latin origin. While in English the name is unisex, in Italian, in Spanish and in Portuguese it is generally female.