Cecelia
The story
Cecelia is the e-heavy spelling of Cecilia, the Roman clan name tradition ties to caecus and the saint who became music's patroness, and its American record never once went dark: about 1,800 girls in the 1890s, 7,200 in the 1920s, 7,400 in the 1940s, two separate midcentury waves, then a long ebb to about 1,800 a decade in the 1970s and 1980s, and the revival, 5,200 in the 2010s and 3,370 so far this decade. In our records it goes to girls about 59,700 to 11 boys, beside Cecilia at about 110,900 girls with her own story. Two spellings have shared the saint's music for more than a century, and the ear cannot tell them apart: only the certificate knows which one grandmother carried.
Cecelia around the world
One shared root links 4 names across 3 languages.
Shared root: from the Roman clan name Caecilius, tied to caecus "blind"; the music-loving martyr St. Cecilia carried it across Europe
The constellation
Popularity, 1890–2024
Shape drawn from US Social Security baby-name records. Cecelia peaked in the 1890s and the 2020s in nearly equal measure.
See popularity in Brazil
Popularity in Brazil
796 people · the #9,710 first name in Brazil · about 1 in 250,000 · median age 14
Among people named Cecelia living in Brazil at the 2022 census, more were born in the 2010s than in any other decade.
The census also counted 194 born between 2020 and August 2022, too recent a span to chart.
Source: IBGE, Censo Demográfico 2022
When you meet Cecelia
People given the name Cecelia in the United States span the generations: the middle half were born anywhere from 1950 to 2019. Age is the one thing the name won't tell you.
Estimated from US Social Security birth registrations and typical lifespans; a rough guide, not a rule.
The Cecelia deep dive
Whether you’re naming a baby or exploring your own name’s history, this is a personal letter, not a list: where Cecelia truly comes from, how it traveled, and what a century of records reveals. If you have grown a tree on nametree, it also considers how Cecelia fits with your family’s names and surname.
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