How rare is the name Cecil?

37,487 people in the United States have the first name Cecil, about 1 in 8,057. It ranks #1,101 of 53,615 first names in the 2020 Census.

first name

CECIL

#1,101

of 53,615 first names recorded in the 2020 Census

People
37,487
About
1 in 8,057
This common or more
71.4%
Who bears it

Of the 37,487 people named Cecil, 68.7% reported their origin as White, 21.3% as Black and 3.6% as Hispanic or Latino. 96.4% are male. These count how people described themselves on the 2020 Census, not where the name comes from.

Cecil peaked in 1920, when 2,672 babies got the name.

Births per year, SSA records 1880–2025
18802025
Peak year
1920
Births that year
2,672
In 2025*
119 ▼96%
Recorded as
almost entirely male

At least 114,676 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.

Cecil by decade

Among all names given to American babies, its best decade was the 1910s, when it ranked #173. The largest share of babies named Cecil, 36.6%, were born between 1901 and 1927, the Greatest Generation's birth years.

1880s#3221,000
1890s#2242,769
1900s#1824,792
1910s#17317,799
1920s#19824,003
1930s#24917,253
1940s#31915,392
1950s#43512,287
1960s#6187,561
1970s#8424,255
1980s#1,1313,022
1990s#1,8781,726
2000s#3,0851,113
2010s#3,5161,016
2020s#3,245688
Before 19013.7%
Greatest Generation 1901–2736.6%
Silent Generation 1928–4527%
Baby boom 1946–6419.6%
Generation X 1965–806.8%
Millennials 1981–963.4%
Generation Z 1997–121.6%
2013 and later1.3%

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 Cecil is most common

Compared with all babies born in each state since 1910, Cecil has been most common in Oklahoma (3.5×), West Virginia (3.5×), and Arkansas (3.3×), and least common in Connecticut (0.03×).

99,743 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.

Either side of Cecil

#1,099 Faye · 37,526#1,100 Betsy · 37,502#1,102 Latoya · 37,472#1,103 Luna · 37,464

Spelled almost the same

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

#2,512 Cecile · 9,689#3,074 Cecily · 7,194#10,167 Cecila · 1,325#39,915 Cecili · 188

Also a last name

As a last name, Cecil ranks #3,038 of 156,621, with 11,545 people. See Cecil as a last name

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