How rare is the name Cecelia?

31,176 people in the United States have the first name Cecelia, about 1 in 9,688. It ranks #1,226 of 53,615 first names in the 2020 Census.

first name

CECELIA

#1,226

of 53,615 first names recorded in the 2020 Census

People
31,176
About
1 in 9,688
This common or more
72.8%
Who bears it

Of the 31,176 people named Cecelia, 65.1% reported their origin as White, 14.3% as Black and 13.4% as Hispanic or Latino. Virtually all are female (99.9%). These count how people described themselves on the 2020 Census, not where the name comes from.

Cecelia peaked in 1918, when 935 babies got the name.

Births per year, SSA records 1880–2025
18802025
Peak year
1918
Births that year
935
In 2025*
569 ▼39%
Recorded as
almost entirely female

At least 60,530 babies have been given the name since 1880. Years SSA withheld, because fewer than 5 were born, are skipped rather than drawn as zero. * 2025 is the newest year published and it undercounts: a card application is filed some time after a birth.

Cecelia by decade

Among all names given to American babies, its best decade was the 1900s, when it ranked #268. The largest share of babies named Cecelia, 25.5%, were born between 1901 and 1927, the Greatest Generation's birth years.

1880s#373852
1890s#3011,784
1900s#2682,793
1910s#3476,905
1920s#4437,169
1930s#5424,598
1940s#4817,368
1950s#5986,898
1960s#8783,857
1970s#1,3731,837
1980s#1,5281,825
1990s#1,4882,446
2000s#1,3443,654
2010s#1,1175,170
2020s#1,0703,374
Before 19014.8%
Greatest Generation 1901–2725.5%
Silent Generation 1928–4516.2%
Baby boom 1946–6421%
Generation X 1965–805.6%
Millennials 1981–965.5%
Generation Z 1997–129.5%
2013 and later12%

Rank counts both sexes together, among every name SSA recorded that decade; the number under it is births. The 2020s run only to 2025. Generation years follow Pew Research Center, which has not named a generation after 2012.

Where Cecelia is most common

Compared with all babies born in each state since 1910, Cecelia has been most common in Pennsylvania (2.1×), District of Columbia (2.1×), and North Dakota (1.8×), and least common in Idaho (0.2×).

49,924 births recorded by state, 1910–2025. 2× means twice as common as nationally. States with fewer than 30 such births are left blank, and SSA withholds any year with fewer than 5 in a state, so small states read low.

Spelled almost the same

8 first names in the 2020 Census spelled within a letter or two of Cecelia, most common first.

Compare