Chelsee
Feminine · “the chalk landing place”
Two names in the same family took the same solution to the same problem. A final -ea and a final -ey both leave an English reader guessing; a doubled e does not, and both this name and Kelsee arrive at that answer independently, in the same decades, from quite different starting points.
How old is the name Chelsee?
Chelsee first appears in US birth records in 1977 — 48 years ago. The typical Chelsee alive today was born around 1993, making them about 32 years old. About 1,700 people named Chelsee are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Chelsee most popular?
Chelsee peaked in 1992, reaching #1090 nationally. See the whole 1992 chart.
Where it comes from
From Chelsea to Chelsee
The story of Chelsee
A film put the district on American birth certificates. At the start of the nineteen-eighties a picture about an aging couple and their difficult adult daughter gave that daughter this name — the film won three acting awards and was seen by very large numbers of people — and the name climbs steeply through the decade that follows. Before it, the word was a place in London and a football club. Afterwards it was a name, and within ten years it was among the commonest given to American girls.
Meaning
the chalk landing place
A London place name from two Old English elements, one meaning chalk or limestone and one a landing place on a river. The identification is not disputed.
How the name formed
- Chelsea
- Chelsee
Pronouncing Chelsee
CHEL-see
Two syllables with the stress at the front. The doubled e removes an ambiguity that the standard -ea ending creates.
Nicknames for Chelsee
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
- 1977
- Most girls named
- 1992165 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1090reached in 1992
- Change vs 2018
- +20.0%6 in 2022, from 5
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.
Chelsees among us
people named Chelsee 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
Chelsee 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
- The ending can only be read one way.
- The sound is completely settled and never needs repeating.
- It is far rarer than the standard spelling.
- Chelsea is overwhelmingly standard and this gets corrected constantly.
- It is closely tied to the decades of the name's rise.
- The London district and the football club both carry the word.
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What they receive
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Chelsee
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Chelsees are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,700 people named Chelsee are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Chelsee in 2025?
- Chelsee is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Chelsee with classmates?
- Chelsee 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 Chelsee? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Chelsee and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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