Cecilia
Top 1000
About Cecilia
Cecilia is a lovely classic name deservedly enjoying a new turn in the sun. Always among the Top 500 girls' names in the US, Cecilia is now at its highest point ever.
Cecilia is a feminine form of Cecil, which was derived from a Roman clan name related to the Latin caecus, meaning "blind". While that may put some parents off, we say put that ancient meaning aside and focus on Cecilia's symbolic resonance in the contemporary world as a classy and classic name.
The martyred Saint Cecilia was designated the patron of musicians, either because she supposedly sang directly to God while the musicians played at her wedding, or because she sang to God as she was dying. The name was popularized in the Middle Ages as an homage to the Saint.
On TV, the Cecelia spelling variation was the name chosen for Pam and Jim's baby on The Office; in real life the name of the daughters of Vera Wang and Soledad O'Brien.
Cecilia is also a Dickens character name in Hard Times, and appears in the novels Atonement and The Virgin Suicides, and The Hunger Games series, as well as being the subject of a memorable Simon & Garfunkel song.
Cecilia, Celia and Cecily are all nameberry faves. Cecelia is an accepted spelling variation you may want to consider if you plan to shorten the name to Celia or Cece.
As of October 2026, Cecilia ranked #108 in US births in 2025 SSA, Nameberry popularity #59.
Editor's take: The name Cecilia is a girl's name of Latin origin meaning "blind".
Popularity & trends
Data table
| Year | US rank | Births | Per million |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | #206 | 1,640 | 918.1 |
| 2015 | #181 | 1,782 | 998.3 |
| 2016 | #177 | 1,827 | 1,031 |
| 2017 | #168 | 1,815 | 1,051.3 |
| 2018 | #155 | 1,809 | 1,063.4 |
| 2019 | #153 | 1,861 | 1,108.8 |
| 2020 | #147 | 1,859 | 1,150 |
| 2021 | #133 | 2,095 | 1,276.8 |
| 2022 | #145 | 2,006 | 1,223.1 |
| 2023 | #137 | 2,057 | 1,282 |
| 2024 | #123 | 2,238 | 1,381.3 |
| 2025 | #108 | 2,506 | 1,559.2 |
World rankings
Similar names
These 20 names were selected by our users looking for other names like Cecilia.
- Lydia
- Genevieve
- Juliet
- Celia
- Helena
- Josephine
- Vivian
- Felicity
- Emmeline
- Rosalie
- Esther
- Evangeline
- Vivienne
- Phoebe
- Adelaide
- Lucia
- Eliza
- Fiona
- Francesca
- Lillian
Cecilia on lists
Famous Cecilias
- Saint Cecilia
Roman martyr and patroness of musicians
- Cecilia Gustavsdotter Vasa
Princess of Sweden; daughter of Gustav I
- Cecilia
Princess of Sweden; Grand Duchess of Oldenburg; daughter of Gustav IV Adolf
- Cecilia Nina Bowes
Lyon, Countess of Strathmore and Kinghorne, grandmother of Queen Elizabeth II
- Cecilia Peck
American actress; daughter of Gregory Peck
- Cecilia Bartoli
Italian opera singer
- Cecilia Parker
American actress
- (Anna) Cecilia Malmström
Swedish politician
- Cecilia Helena Payne
Gaposchkin, British,American astronomer
- Cecilia Cheung
Hong Kong actress
- Cecilia Törn
Finnish ice dancer
- Cecilia Beaux
American portraitist
- Cecilia Liu
Chinese actress
- Cecilia "Ceci" de la Cueva
Mexican actress
- Cecilia DeMille Harper
daughter of director Cecil B. DeMille
- Alice Cecilia Linh Svensson
Swedish singer and Idol 2008 runner,up
- Cécilia
Princess of Leiningen (b. 1988), daughter of Prince Karl Emich
- Cecilia Kowalczyk (b. 2011)
daughter of musician Ed Kowalczyk of band Live
- Cecilia Delphine Walton (born 2012)
daughter of Majandra Delfino and David Walton
- Cecilia Kate McMahon (b. 2014)
daughter of singer Andrew McMahon of Something Corporate and Jack's Mannequin
- Cecilia L. Ridgeway
American sociologist
Cecilia in pop culture
- Cecilia Marie Halpert
Jim's and Pam's daughter on The Office
- Cecilia Carol "C.C." Bloom
character in book/film "Beaches"
- Cecilia "Cece" Parekh
character on TV's "New Girl"
- Cecilia "Cece" Jones
character on TV's "Shake It Up"
- Cecilia
character in film "Aquamarine"
- Cecilia
character in The Hunger Games series
- Cecilia Tallis
character in Ian McEwan's "Atonement"
- Cecilia Smith
character on TV's "7th Heaven"
- Cecilia Aurora Serendia Marie
main character in "Palace of Mirrors" by Margaret Peterson Haddix
- Cecilia Nuthatch
character in "We're Back! A Dinosaur's Story"
- Cecilia "Cecil" Grey
main character in Rumer Godden's novel 'The Greengage Summer'
- "Cecilia"
song by Simon & Garfunkel
- "Cecilia and the Satellite"
song by Andrew McMahon In The Wilderness; inspired by his daughter Cecilia
- "Cecilia"
song by The Vamps and Shawn Mendes
Variations & nicknames
- CécileFrench
- SìleasScottish
- SiljaFinnish
- SiselYiddish
- ZiselYiddish
- CecilijaSlovene
- SíleIrish
- CaeciliaGerman
- CecyliaPolish
- CilkaSlovene
- SiljeDanish