Celia
Top 1000
About Celia
Celia, splendidly sleek and feminine, is a name that was scattered throughout Shakespeare and other Elizabethan literature, but still manages to feel totally modern. Derived from the Latin Caelius, it means "heavenly".
Shakespeare has been credited with introducing Celia in As You Like It, and it was to Celia that the poet Ben Jonson penned the immortal line, "Drink to me only with thine eyes." Other literary Celias have appeared in works ranging from George Eliot's Middlemarch to T. S. Eliot's The Cocktail Party to Lionel Shriver's We Need to Talk About Kevin
While Celia has a similar sound to Cecilia, and may well be used as a short form of the longer name, the two have different roots. Cecilia comes from the Latin caecus meaning "blind", while Celia is from caelum meaning "heaven".
Familiar but not overused, Celia has been in the US Top 1000 since records began in the 1880s, however, it has been outside the Top 500 since the 60s. Also in the England and Wales Top 1000, it is a favorite in Spain, France, and Belgium. Said as SEE-lee-uh or SEEL-yuh among English speakers, in Spanish, it may be pronounced THEHL-ya or SEHL-ya, depending on region.
A bit of trivia: Celia is an anagram of Alice, meaning it could potentially work as an honor name.
Pronounced SEEL-yuh.
As of October 2026, Celia ranked #774 in US births in 2025 SSA, peaked at #141 in 1882, Nameberry popularity #157.
Editor: Pamela Redmond
Sources: US popularity data is from the Social Security Administration. Meanings and origins are from Nameberry's name references.
Popularity & trends
Data table
| Year | US rank | Births | Per million |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | #787 | 356 | 199.3 |
| 2015 | #851 | 328 | 183.7 |
| 2016 | #835 | 344 | 194.1 |
| 2017 | #838 | 324 | 187.7 |
| 2018 | #931 | 287 | 168.7 |
| 2019 | #868 | 308 | 183.5 |
| 2020 | #790 | 345 | 213.4 |
| 2021 | #791 | 358 | 218.2 |
| 2022 | #861 | 323 | 196.9 |
| 2023 | #827 | 332 | 206.9 |
| 2024 | #734 | 382 | 235.8 |
| 2025 | #774 | 351 | 218.4 |
World rankings
Similar names
These 20 names were selected by our users looking for other names like Celia.
- Vivienne
- Emmeline
- Vivian
- Colette
- Fiona
- Felicity
- Cecilia
- Gwendolyn
- Lydia
- Francesca
- Vera
- Helena
- Cecily
- Georgianna
- Lucia
- Genevieve
- Rosalie
- Eleanora
- Camille
- Amarie
Celia on lists
Famous Celias
- (Úrsula Hilaria) Celia de la Caridad Cruz (Alfonso)
Cuban,American singer
- Celia Elizabeth Johnson
English actress
- Celia Feinman Adler
American actress
- Celia Diana Savile Imrie
English actress
- Celia Keenan
Bolger, American actress and singer
- Celia Weston
American actress
- Celia Mei Rubin
American actress
- Celia Sánchez (Manduley)
Cuban revolutionary
- Celia Calderón
Mexican painter
Celia in pop culture
- Celia
character in Shakespeare's "As You Like It'
- Celia
character in Jonathan Swift's "The Lady's Dressing Room"
- Celia Bowen
character in Erin Morgenstern's "The Night Circus"
- Celia Brooke
character in "Middlemarch" by George Eliot
- Celia Coplestone
from T.S. Eliot's "The Cocktail Party"
- Celia Foote
character in Kathryn Stockett's "The Help"
- Celia Dawson
character on TV's "Last Tango in Halifax"
- Celia Stewart
character on Australian soap "Home & Away"
- Celia Hodes
character on TV's "Weeds"
- Celia May
character in Pixar's "Monsters, Inc."
- Celia Plaskett
character in film "We Need to Talk About Kevin"
- Celia Solis
character on TV's "Desperate Housewives"
- Cousin Celia
character in film "Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang"
- Celia Lytton
character in film "Spoils of Time" trilogy by Penny Vincenzi
- Celia Mack
character on TV's "Andi Mack"
- Celia Hamilton
character from the "Mandie" series
- Celia Penderghast
character in video game "inFAMOUS: Second Son"
- Celia Catherine "CeCe" Rhodes
character on TV's 'Gossip Girl'
- Celia
character in the video game "Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life"
- Celia
daughter of Dr. Facilier in Disney's "Descendants 3"
- Celia Ripley
character in podcast "The Magnus Protocol"
- "Amintor's Lamentation for Celia's Unkindness"
17th century Broadside Ballad