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Caeli

Feminine · “of heaven”

1974high 2023
#2076 in the U.S.given to only a few children a year
rare90 girls in 2025

Caeli is of the heavens in Latin — the genitive of caelum, sky — and it is also read as a form of the Irish Kayley.

How old is the name Caeli?

Caeli first appears in US birth records in 1974 — 51 years ago. The typical Caeli is a kid of about 7 — this name's wave is very recent. About 1,200 people named Caeli are estimated to be alive in the US today.

When was the name Caeli most popular?

Caeli peaked in 2023, reaching #1474 nationally. Today it ranks #2076, 602 places below that high. See the whole 2023 chart.

Compare this nameMore “C” names

Lists built from the same records:

I

Where it comes from

The story of Caeli

Caelum gives celestial, ceiling and the Italian cielo. Regina Caeli, queen of heaven, is a Marian title and antiphon. Separately, the Irish céilí is a house visit and then a dance gathering. Caeli appears in American records as a modern given name in current use.

Meaningscholars disagree

of heaven, of the sky

Two routes. The Latin caeli is the genitive of caelum, 'sky' or 'heaven', from which celestial descends. Or a respelling of Kayley or Ceilidh, from the Irish céilí, a social gathering. Both are attributed and the Latin is the commoner reading now.

How the name formed

  1. caelum
  2. caeli
  3. Caeli

Related forms: Caeli · Kaeli · Céilí

Pronouncing Caeli

KAY-lee

Two syllables, stress on the first. Latin says KY-lee with a different first vowel.

Nicknames for Caeli

Moderate

CaeThe front sound alone, used inside families rather than generally
LeeThe back sound, and a name in its own right for both sexes
II

What the data says

The long climb, and where it stands now

GIRLS NAMED · 1974–20251487401489019742025

US babies named Caeli per year from 1974 to 2025
AVERAGE RANK BY DECADE#1#10#100#1000#14741970s2020s

The same years in position rather than babies

First recorded
1974
Most girls named
2023148 — the highest on record
Peak rank
#1474reached in 2023
Change vs 2024
−26.8%90 in 2025, from 123
Caeli sits in the rare tail. Its best year on record was 2023, with 148 girls. Today it is given to few enough children that it does not enter the ranked charts at all.

Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.

Caeli in other languages

The same name elsewhere

  • Caeli in Latin — same name
  • Kaeli in English — spelling variant
  • Céilí in Irish — related form

Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, California, Florida.

Caelis among us

1,200

people named Caeli are estimated to be alive in the US today

About 1 girl in 17,859 born in 2025 was named Caeli

Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method

Spellings of Caeli

#2076
Caeli on the 2025 chart
#513
counting every spelling

The SSA counts spellings, not names. Caeli went to 90 girls in 2025, but Kaeli, Kaely and Caely and the rest below are the same name said out loud. Together the 5 spellings went to 508, which makes it the 513th most-given girls’ name of the year — 1,563 places above the chart.

About 1 girl in 3,164 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 17,859 for Caeli itself.

Spellings are grouped by a fixed rule that folds interchangeable English spellings of one sound (ck/k, ph/f, x/ks, a non-initial y for i) and keeps vowels apart, so Sean and Shawn stay separate names. It errs towards splitting: a family here is never larger than the truth. SSA national data, 2025. Method

III

Is it right for you

The Laural test

Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Caeli's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Laural climbed just as high around 1957, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Laural's path sketches the road Caeli is walking now.

40%chance Caeli will feel “very 2020s” by 2040
Caeli, aligned on its peakLaural· peak 1957not yet written
#1#10#100#1000peak-40 yrs+60 yrsLaural · #16869Caeli today
Caeli today is about where Laural stood in 1959 — 2 years past a #1474-sized peak. By 1974, Laural had settled around #5167.
Ages quietlysteadyDates fast

Caeli sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.

A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored

Where Caeli is headed

19742030

US babies named Caeli per year, 1974 to 2025, with a projection to 2030

Caeli is on a steep climb — if the curve holds, 2030 could see around 60% more babies given the name than today. Its history is short or jumpy, though, so read this as a sketch rather than a promise.

Rising+60% by 2030projected around #1,562 in 2030

Low confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.

A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.

Caeli beside its neighbors

The names ranked closest to Caeli in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.

Caelithis name90#2076Everlynn90#2076Scotland90#2076Iylah90#2076Blayke90#2076

US girls given each name in 2025.

The trade-off

Practical strengths
  • That ceiling and celestial share a root with it is a genuinely good etymology.
  • The of-the-heavens meaning is elevated and transparent.
  • Two clean syllables with no pronunciation risk in English.
What to consider
  • The Latin and English pronunciations differ sharply.
  • Kaylee, Caeli and Kaeli are all close enough to confuse.
  • The origin is genuinely split between Latin and Irish routes.

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Caeli

Feminine · #2076 in the U.S.

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Frequently asked

How many Caelis are there in the world?
No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,200 people named Caeli are estimated to be alive in the US today.
How do you spell Caeli?
Caeli is one of 5 recorded spellings. Kaeli is the more common one — 358 births in 2025 against 90 for Caeli.
How popular is the name Caeli in 2025?
Caeli ranks #2076 among US girl names in 2025, with 90 babies given the name.
How rare is the name Caeli?
About 1 in every 17,859 US girls born in 2025 was named Caeli — 90 in all.
Will my child share the name Caeli with classmates?
Caeli will almost certainly be the only one in school.

Ranked beside Caeli

Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.

Everlynn#2076 · Scotland#2076 · Iylah#2076 · Blayke#2076 · Acelynn#2076 · Lilyann#2076 · Taliah#2076 · Shaindy#2076

Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Caeli? See the current top 100.

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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology

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