Cara is a feminine given name with multiple origins in different languages.
As an English name, it is usually considered a modern spelling variant of the Italian endearment cara, meaning beloved, or the Irish word cara, meaning friend.
Neither Cara nor Kara had been in common use as a name in Italy or Ireland prior to the 20th century, though Kara had been in use as an independent name in the United States since at least the 1890s.
Both forms of the name had occasionally been used as a hypocorism for the name Caroline, as in the case of American journalist Cara Reese (1856-1914), who was born Caroline.
Actress Bernice Kamiat, who used the stage name Cara Williams, popularized that version of the name in the 1950s and 1960s.