Show ContentsCarla History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Etymology of Carla

What does the name Carla mean?

Carla is a name whose ancestors lived among the Picts, a tribe in ancient Scotland. The Carla family lived in Aberdeen (part of the modern Grampian region), where the name can be found since very early times.

Early Origins of the Carla family

The surname Carla was first found in Aberdeenshire (Gaelic: Siorrachd Obar Dheathain), a historic county, and present day Council Area of Aberdeen, located in the Grampian region of northeastern Scotland, where they held a family seat from very ancient times, some say before the Conquest in 1066.

Early History of the Carla family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Carla research. Another 118 words (8 lines of text) covering the years 1493, 1575, 1592, 1619, 1633, 1638, 1647, 1675, 1747 and 1798 are included under the topic Early Carla History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Carla Spelling Variations

The appearance of the printing press and the first dictionaries in the last few hundred years did much to standardize spelling. Prior to that time scribes spelled according to sound, a practice that resulted in many spelling variations. Carla has been spelled Carle, Carley, Carlley, Carrley, Carlie, Carleigh, Carlea, Carlee, Carrlie, Carlies, Carleys, Carleas, Carlay, Carley, Carrlay, Carrley, Carrleys, Karley and many more.

Early Notables of the Carla family

Notable amongst the Clan at this time was Hippolitus Curle (1592-1638), Scottish Jesuit, son of Gilbert Curle, Secretary to Mary Queen of Scots, by his wife, Barbara Mowbray. "He studied in the Scotch seminary at Douay, and entered the Society of Jesus at Tournai. During the second year of his noviceship his aunt, Elizabeth Curle, died at Antwerp (29 March 1619), leaving him sixty thousand florins. The bulk of this fortune he devoted to the use of the seminary at Douay, of which he is...
Another 84 words (6 lines of text) are included under the topic Early Carla Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Migration of the Carla family to Ireland

Some of the Carla family moved to Ireland, but this topic is not covered in this excerpt. More information about their life in Ireland is included in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Migration of the Carla family

The expense of the crossing to the North American colonies seemed small beside the difficulties of remaining in Scotland. It was a long and hard trip, but at its end lay the reward of freedom. Some Scots remained faithful to England and called themselves United Empire Loyalists, while others fought in the American War of Independence. Much of this lost Scottish heritage has been recovered in the last century through Clan societies and other patriotic Scottish organizations. A search of immigration and passenger lists revealed many important, early immigrants to North America bearing the name of Carla: Elizabeth Carle who settled in Barbados in 1669; George Carle settled in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1751; Michael Carle settled in 1736 in Philadelphia.


Contemporary Notables of the name Carla (post 1700) +

  • Maria Carla Mercader (1965-2020), American Emmy Award winning journalist and news producer who worked for CBS News for over three decades; she died from COVID-19
  • Carla Esparza (b. 1987), American mixed martial artist and wrestler who competes in the Strawweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC)
  • Carla Gugino (b. 1971), American actress, best known for roles in Snake Eyes (1998), Spy Kids trilogy (2001-2003), Night at the Museum (2006) and San Andreas (2015)
  • Carla Schuessler (b. 1972), American politician of the Republican Party, Member of the South Carolina House of Representatives (2022-)
  • Carla Bley (1936-2023), born Lovella May Borg, an American jazz composer, pianist, organist, and bandleader
  • Carla Giraldo (b. 1986), Colombian actress, model and singer
  • Carla Estrada (b. 1957), Mexican television producer considered one of the foremost telenovela producers of Latin America
  • Carla Cassola (1947-2022), Italian actress, voice actress and composer
  • Carla Bazzanella (1947-2022), Italian linguist, born in Turin
  • Carla Galle (1948-2022), Belgian medley swimmer who competed in two events at the 1968 Summer Olympics


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