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Carmel is a no for me. It's how I pronounce caramel and food names are always a no.

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Carmen is ok. I pair it with Where In The World... Loved the show/game

Carmel is close to both camel and caramel. And then there's the biblical Mount. I'd avoid it. And so would most South Africans - don't think I've ever spotted a single one.

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Carmen isn't a role model character, but she lights up the opera stage all right. I can think of two that I've known: one in her 80s and one in her, um, 40s. Not the top of my list by any means, but not bad at all.

I prefer Carmel to Carmen. Carmen makes me think of a huge opera singer. It just seems so....really Spanish, I guess? So much so, that when I knew a little girl named Carmen 18-20 years ago, a little girl with no Spanish ancestry, the name so surprised me. Carmen also makes me think of men who drive cars or are obsessed with cars....carmen. I just really don't care for it. Carmel, while not a favorite, is much better IMO.

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I don't pronounce the word "caramel" like Carmel, and have never heard anyone do so, so that's not an issue for me. I know only from reading that some Americans do. But since I've never personally known an American who does, it's not an issue. "Caramel" and Carmel are very different to me.

I've always liked Carmen. Carmel is too much like the candy.

The local Catholic church is "Our Lady of Mount Carmel," and Carmel is pronounced like caramel (that is, KAHR-məl in our regional accent), so I've never actually thought of it as a personal name. Pronounced kahr-MEL (pretty much the correct way), it's intriguing, but it would be too weird to use in my neighborhood.

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Carmen is cool. Sophisticated, charming, sexy even. Like a "Bond girl." I can't imagine a shy Carmen.

I would prefer Carmen to Carmel!

It's okay. The meaning is nice, and I don't think I'd mind being named Carmel, but mostly it sounds like a place to me (there's a place in California as well as Indiana called Carmel, and it also reminds me of Cozumel in Mexico) or similar sounding words like caramel and camel instead of a person.

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eta:
Based on sound/meaning, I like Carmel and Carmen about equally, but Carmen sounds more namey to me, so if I had to use one, I'd probably go with that.

This message was edited 3/13/2018, 10:50 AM

No, it's too similar to caramel, and a lot of people pronounce caramel just like carmel.
Carmen is very similar in sound but I think it's a lot prettier.