Clelia
Feminine
Clelia is the Italian form of Cloelia, a name Rome remembered from its earliest legends, and Stendhal gave it to the heroine of The Charterhouse of Parma. Clélia Conti, the governor's daughter who falls in love with the prisoner in her father's tower, is one of the great heroines of French fiction.
How old is the name Clelia?
Clelia first appears in US birth records in 1903 — 122 years ago. The typical Clelia alive today was born around 1934, making them about 91 years old. About 200 people named Clelia are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Clelia most popular?
Clelia peaked in 1903, reaching #1440 nationally. See the whole 1903 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Cloelia to Clelia
Our story of Clelia
Our story of Clelia begins at a window. Stendhal, writing in 1839, put a girl called Clélia Conti in the governor's apartments of a prison tower in Parma, tending birds in an aviary, and a young prisoner, Fabrice, in a cell that looked across at her. They talked by signs and letters held up to the light; she helped him escape; and then, having vowed to the Madonna never to see him again, she kept the vow to the letter by meeting him only in the dark. It is a story about keeping a promise and breaking it at once, and it has kept the name alive for every reader of French fiction since.
Meaningnot established
Not established
Clelia comes from Cloelia, the name of the women of a Roman family, the Cloelii. What the family name meant is not recorded, and no settled reading exists.
How the name formed
- Cloelia
- Clelia
Related forms: Cloelia · Clélie · Clelia
Pronouncing Clelia
KLEH-lee-ah
Italian says it in three short syllables with the stress on the first. English speakers often say KLEE-lee-uh.
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
- 1903
- Most girls named
- 192021 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1440reached in 1903
- Change vs 2023
- +20.0%6 in 2024, 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.
Clelia in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Cloelia in Latin — related form
- Clélie in French — related form
- Clelia in Spanish — same name
Clelias among us
people named Clelia 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
Clelia 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 heroine of one of the great nineteenth-century novels carried it.
- Rare in the United States but a standing name in Italy, so it is not an invention.
- Close to Celia and Delia, so the sound is familiar even when the name is not.
- It will be heard as Celia or Delia and spelled that way; expect to spell it out.
- Stendhal's story ends sadly, which matters only to readers who know it.
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What they receive
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Clelia
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Clelias are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 200 people named Clelia are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Clelia in 2025?
- Clelia is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Clelia with classmates?
- Clelia will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More C names
The most-given names starting with C, all years combined.
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Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Clelia? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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