Cicely
Feminine · “Latin Caecilius”
Roman family names were often insults. Cicero was chickpea, Naso was nose, Crassus was fat, Brutus was stupid, and Caecilius, the source of Cecily and Cicely, was from caecus, blind. Rome kept these names for centuries without embarrassment, and a great many modern given names descend from what began as somebody's nickname about somebody's body.
How old is the name Cicely?
Cicely first appears in US birth records in 1917 — 108 years ago. The typical Cicely alive today was born around 1980, making them about 45 years old. About 2,300 people named Cicely are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Cicely most popular?
Cicely peaked in 1974, reaching #608 nationally. Today it ranks #7885, 7,277 places below that high. See the whole 1974 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Caecilia to Cicely
The story of Cicely
A Roman man of the governing class carried three names: a personal one, a clan one and a branch one, and the third was regularly descriptive. Some described a place or a deed, but many described a defect, and the Romans do not seem to have found this awkward. Caecilius, from blind, is one; so are Balbus, stammering, Claudius, lame, and Calvus, bald. The names outlived any connection to the trait within a generation and became simply inherited property. What is striking is how many survived Rome. Claude, Claudia, Cecilia, Cecil and Cicely are all in use today, and none of their bearers is thought to be describing anything. Cicely reaches its American peak in 1974, the year Cicely Tyson won two Emmys for The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman, two years after her Oscar nomination for Sounder.
Meaning
Latin Caecilius, from caecus, blind
From the Roman gens Caecilia, one of the older plebeian families, whose name derives from caecus, blind. The feminine Caecilia gave the English Cecilia and the medieval English form Cecily, of which Cicely is a spelling that reflects the pronunciation. Saint Cecilia, martyred in Rome and later made patron of music on the strength of a phrase in her legend, carried the name into general Christian use.
How the name formed
- Caecilia
- Cecily
- Cicely
Related forms: Cecily · Cecilia · Cecile
Pronouncing Cicely
SIS-uh-lee
Three syllables, stress on the first. The first c is soft and the second is too. Some speakers say SIS-lee with two syllables. Sweet cicely, the herb, is the same word and is said the same way.
Nicknames for Cicely
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
- 1917
- Most girls named
- 1973212 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #608reached in 1974
- Change vs 2023
- +62.5%13 in 2025, from 8
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.
Cicely in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Cecily in English — spelling variant
- Cecilia in Italian — related form
- Cecile in French — related form
Cicelys among us
people named Cicely are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 123,636 born in 2025 was named Cicely
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Marianna test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Cicely's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Marianna climbed just as high around 1929, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Marianna's path sketches the road Cicely is walking now.
Cicely 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
Cicely beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Cicely in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The etymology is documented back to a named Roman family.
- It has been in continuous English use since the Middle Ages.
- The sound is soft and distinctive without being difficult.
- Cecily and Cecilia are both more common spellings.
- The traditional nickname Cissy has acquired other meanings.
- The name reads as either very old or very literary to most Americans.
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What they receive
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Cicely
Feminine · #7885 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Cicelys are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 2,300 people named Cicely are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Cicely in 2025?
- Cicely ranks #7885 among US girl names in 2025, with 13 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Cicely?
- About 1 in every 123,636 US girls born in 2025 was named Cicely — 13 in all.
- Will my child share the name Cicely with classmates?
- Cicely will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Cicely
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Ola#7885 · Loula#7885 · Consuelo#7885 · Santa#7885 · Florentina#7885 · Marty#7885 · Jaye#7885 · Dollie#7885
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Cicely? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Cicely and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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