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.
Actress Bernice Kamiat, who used the stage name Cara Williams, popularized that version of the name in the 1950s and 1960s.
The DC Comics character Supergirl, whose original name was Kara Zor-El, debuted in 1959.
Both Cara and Kara were used regularly in the Anglosphere and have been regarded as spelling variants of the same name.
Other media depictions of Supergirl have continued to draw attention to the name.