Chelse
Feminine
Chelse drops the final vowel of a London riverside, and the riverside's name is about landing chalk — a wharf, not a fashionable district, for most of its existence.
How old is the name Chelse?
Chelse first appears in US birth records in 1974 — 51 years ago. The typical Chelse alive today was born around 1992, making them about 33 years old. About 800 people named Chelse are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Chelse most popular?
Chelse peaked in 1992, reaching #1894 nationally. See the whole 1992 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Chelsea to Chelse
The story of Chelse
London place names are almost all descriptions of work. A hythe is a landing place, which is why Rotherhithe and Greenhithe and Queenhithe exist and why half the riverside south of the city is named after what was unloaded there. Chelsea was one of them, a wharf for building materials, and it stayed a village outside London until the eighteenth century — the fashionable associations are about two hundred years old and the name is well over a thousand. A child carrying it is carrying a description of a job site, which is true of a remarkable number of the English place names now used as first names.
Meaningscholars disagree
A landing place for chalk or limestone
The Old English name is usually read as a hythe, a landing place on a river, for chalk or lime. Rival readings have been offered and none is settled. The dropped vowel in this spelling changes nothing about it.
How the name formed
- Chelsea
- Chelse
Pronouncing Chelse
CHEL-see
Two syllables, stress at the front. Identical to Chelsea; the missing letter is not audible.
Nicknames for Chelse
Moderate
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
- 1974
- Most girls named
- 199274 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1894reached in 1992
- Change vs 2009
- −16.7%5 in 2010, from 6
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.
Chelses among us
people named Chelse are estimated to be alive in the US today
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
Questions parents actually ask
Fashion outlook
Chelse sits outside the current charts, and that is its own kind of answer: naming cycles can only date the names they carried up. A name this rare has no decade stamped on it — it cannot go out of fashion, because it was never in.
Based on 146 years of naming cycles. How we read them
The trade-off
- It points at a real place with a documented history.
- It is read correctly on sight.
- It is rare while the name is completely familiar.
- Chelsea is the standard spelling and hers will be corrected to it.
- The missing letter reads as an error rather than a choice.
- The name is strongly associated with particular decades.
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Chelse
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Chelses are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 800 people named Chelse are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Chelse in 2025?
- Chelse is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Chelse with classmates?
- Chelse will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More C names
The most-given names starting with C, all years combined.
Carol#2239 · Cynthia#1013 · Catherine#313 · Christine#1272 · Carolyn#1222 · Christina#770 · Charlotte#2 · Cheryl#4352
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Chelse? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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