Cecile
A feminine given name of French origin meaning "blind or dim-sighted".
Name Census estimates that about 5,258 living Americans carry the first name Cecile. It is a predominantly female name (99.1% of registrations). The average person named Cecile today is around 63 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Cecile births was 1918 (503 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Cecile. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Cecile with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Cecile is used almost entirely for girls, the SSA data does show 191 boys registered with the name since 1880.
People living today
5.3K
~ 1 in 65,187 Americans
Peak year
1918
503 babies that year
Average age
63
years old
1952 SSA rank
#3,819
Tracked since 1880
Census
Cecile in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 9,683 people with the first name Cecile, which placed it at #2,513 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#2,513
National first-name rank
People counted
9.7K
9,683 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
3.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
67.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Cecile
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Cecile is White at 67.1%. The next largest groups are Black (15.8%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (9.4%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Cecile described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Cecile at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White67.1% · 6,496
- Black or African American15.8% · 1,533
- Asian and Pacific Islander9.4% · 907
- Hispanic or Latino4.4% · 425
- Two or more races2.8% · 268
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.6% · 54
Gender
Gender distribution for Cecile
Out of the 20,589 babies given the name Cecile since 1880, 99.1% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Cecile as a male name
- Ranked #3,819 in 1952
- 5 male births in 1952
- Peak: 1923 (12 births)
Cecile as a female name
- Ranked #5,818 in 2024
- 21 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1918 (495 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Cecile appears almost entirely female. Of the 9,689 people counted with this name, 99.1% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Cecile: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Cecile from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 4,143 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1920s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Cecile by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Cecile during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Ceciles live
The SSA's state-level files cover 41 states and territories. Massachusetts, New York, Louisiana recorded the most babies named Cecile, while West Virginia, Oregon, Montana recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 315 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Cecile
The given name Cecile has its origins in the Latin language, derived from the Roman family name Caecilius. The name Caecilius itself is believed to have come from the Latin word "caecus," meaning "blind." This connection suggests that the name may have initially referred to someone who was visually impaired or perhaps had poor eyesight.
The name Cecile gained widespread popularity in the early days of Christianity, as it was borne by the semi-legendary Saint Cecilia, a Roman martyr from the 3rd century. According to tradition, Cecilia was a young Christian noblewoman who was martyred for her faith during the persecutions of the Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius. Her story and the widespread veneration of Saint Cecilia as the patron saint of music contributed significantly to the name's enduring popularity.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Cecile can be found in the 6th-century writings of Venantius Fortunatus, a Latin poet and hymnist. In his work, Fortunatus praises the virtues of a young woman named Cecile, further solidifying the name's association with early Christianity.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Cecile. One prominent example is Cecile of Normandy (c. 1051-1126), also known as Cecilia, who was the daughter of William the Conqueror and Queen Matilda of Flanders. Another Cecile of note was Cecile Renault (1774-1794), a French revolutionary and revolutionary feminist who was executed during the Reign of Terror.
In the realm of literature, the name Cecile has been immortalized in works such as the novel "Cecile" by Theodor Fontane (1819-1898), a renowned German novelist and poet. The novel's protagonist, a young woman named Cecile, became a symbol of the changing social norms and expectations of the time.
Other notable individuals who have borne the name Cecile include Cecile Chaminade (1857-1944), a French composer and pianist who was one of the first female composers to gain international recognition, and Cecile Fatiman (1904-1983), an American artist and sculptor known for her abstract and figurative works.
People
Cecile + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Cecile as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with C
Other first names starting with C with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Cecile: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Cecile?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 5,258 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Cecile going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 65,187 US residents.
Is Cecile a common name?
We classify Cecile as "Rare". It ranks above 96.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 20,589 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Cecile most popular?
The single biggest year for Cecile was 1918, when 503 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Cecile is about 63 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Cecile in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 9,683 people with the name Cecile, or 3.21 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #2,513 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Cecile in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Cecile?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Cecile appears almost entirely female. Of the 9,689 people counted with this name, 99.1% were female and only a very small share were male. The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Cecile?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Cecile is White at 67.1%. The next largest groups are Black (15.8%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (9.4%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Cecile most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Cecile in the 2020 Census, accounting for 67.1% (6,496 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Cecile in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Cecile a female name?
Yes, 99.1% of people registered as Cecile in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Cecile still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Cecile in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Cecile can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people are named Cecile?
Want to know how many Americans are named Cecile? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.