Celia
Feminine
Celia is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 56,642 girls against 74 boys since 1880.
Celia belonged to the Romans first, as the feminine of the old family name Caelius, and it reached English readers through the stage and the songbook — Shakespeare gave the name to Rosalind's cousin in As You Like It, and Ben Jonson addressed a Celia in the lyric that became "Drink to me only with thine eyes." Three syllables that open wide and close soft, with nothing in the spelling to slow anyone down.
How old is the name Celia?
Celia was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Celia alive today was born around 1948, making them about 77 years old. About 31,000 people named Celia are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Celia most popular?
Celia peaked in 1882, reaching #141 nationally. Today it ranks #774, 633 places below that high. See the whole 1882 chart.
Celia appears on this list:
Where it comes from
From Caelius to Celia
The story of Celia
The name begins as Caelia, the feminine of Caelius, one of the old Roman family names carried in the Republic and the Empire. It resurfaced in English during the Renaissance revival of classical names, and the theater and lyric poetry of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries fixed it in the language: Shakespeare's As You Like It has a Celia, and Ben Jonson wrote his best-known song to one. Along a parallel route, Celia grew up as the everyday short form of Cecilia, which is why the two names have shadowed each other for centuries. In Spanish, Portuguese and Italian it never needed importing at all — it has been at home in each of them for generations.
Meaningscholars disagree
Two readings compete: "heavenly" and "blind"
Celia comes from the Latin Caelia, feminine of the Roman family name Caelius, which is commonly linked to caelum, "sky" or "heaven." Separately, Celia has long served as a short form of Cecilia, which traces to the Roman Caecilius and the Latin caecus, "blind." Both roads are real, and many bearers have arrived by one rather than the other."Heavenly" is the reading most often given; the Cecilia connection is the one that explains why so many Celias have a Cecilia in the family tree.
How the name formed
- Caelius
- Caelia
- Celia
Related forms: Celia · Celia · Célia · Célie · Célia · Caelia
Pronouncing Celia
SEE-lee-uh
Some English speakers compress it to SEEL-yuh. In Spanish it is SEH-lyah in Latin America and THEH-lyah in most of Spain; Portuguese Célia is SEH-lyah. Bilingual families often use both without trouble.
Nicknames for Celia
High
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1880
- Most girls named
- 1916810 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #141reached in 1882
- Change vs 2022
- +8.7%351 in 2025, from 323
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.
Celia in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Celia in Spanish — same name
- Celia in Italian — same name
- Célia in Portuguese — spelling variant
- Célie in French — related form
- Célia in Hungarian — spelling variant
- Caelia in Latin — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, New York.
Celias among us
people named Celia are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 4,579 born in 2025 was named Celia
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
Fashion outlook
Celia 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 Celia is headed
Celia should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
High 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.
Celia beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Celia in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Spelled the way it sounds in English, and short enough that no one asks for it twice.
- Works unchanged in Spanish and Italian, and needs only an accent in Portuguese — useful across the states where it is most used.
- Carries established short forms already in circulation: CeCe, Celie, Lia.
- A documented English record going back to the Renaissance stage, so it has never needed explaining as a new invention.
- Distinct in a classroom without being unfamiliar to adults, who mostly recognize it on sight.
- People often assume Celia is short for Cecilia and will lengthen it in speech or on forms. Worth deciding early whether that correction matters to you.
- It sits close to Delia, Celina, Cecilia and Sheila, so mishearings over the phone are routine, though the spelling itself rarely causes trouble.
- The name is more strongly represented among older generations than among children, so it may read as familiar to adults and new to classmates — which is roughly the position a child gets to enjoy either way.
- The Portuguese and French forms carry an accent that English keyboards and databases tend to drop, if that spelling matters in your family.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Celia to the vote.
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What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Celia
Feminine · #774 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Celias are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 31,000 people named Celia are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Celia in 2025?
- Celia ranks #774 among US girl names in 2025, with 351 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Celia?
- About 1 in every 4,579 US girls born in 2025 was named Celia — 351 in all.
- Will my child share the name Celia with classmates?
- Celia will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Celia
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Malaya#774 · Pearl#776 · Inaya#776 · Christina#770 · Luella#778 · Ruthie#778 · Fallon#778 · Dulce#770
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Celia? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Celia and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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