Ceciley
From the Latin "caecus" meaning blind or unseeing.
Name Census estimates that about 125 living Americans carry the first name Ceciley. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Ceciley today is around 36 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Ceciley births was 1989 (23 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Ceciley. 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.
People living today
125
~ 1 in 2,742,035 Americans
Peak year
1989
23 babies that year
Average age
36
years old
2000 SSA rank
#15,478
Tracked since 1973
Census
Ceciley in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 189 people with the first name Ceciley, which placed it at #39,747 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
#39,747
National first-name rank
People counted
189
189 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
49.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Ceciley
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ceciley is White at 49.2%. The next largest groups are Black (30.7%) and Hispanic (13.8%). 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 Ceciley 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 Ceciley at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White49.2% · 93
- Black or African American30.7% · 58
- Hispanic or Latino13.8% · 26
- Two or more races4.2% · 8
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.6% · 3
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.5% · 1
Popularity
Ceciley: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Ceciley from the 1970s through to the 2000s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 68 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1990s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Ceciley 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 Ceciley during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Ceciley
Ceciley is an English feminine given name derived from the Latin name Caecilia, which is the feminine form of the Roman family name Caecilius. The name Caecilius likely originated from the Latin word "caecus," meaning "blind." The name Ceciley dates back to ancient Roman times and was initially used to refer to someone who was born blind or had impaired vision.
In early Christian tradition, the name Ceciley is associated with Saint Cecilia, a Roman martyr from the 3rd century AD. According to legend, Saint Cecilia was a young Christian woman who dedicated her life to God and was martyred for her faith during the Roman persecution of Christians. She is revered as the patron saint of music and musicians.
The earliest recorded use of the name Ceciley can be traced back to the Middle Ages in England. One of the earliest notable figures with this name was Ceciley Neville, Duchess of York, who lived from 1415 to 1495. She was a prominent figure in the Wars of the Roses and the mother of two English kings, Edward IV and Richard III.
Another historical figure named Ceciley was Ceciley Chicheley, who lived from 1468 to 1552. She was an English noblewoman and the wife of Sir John Chicheley, a prominent courtier during the reign of Henry VIII.
In the 16th century, Ceciley Burghley, born in 1556, was an English aristocrat and the wife of Sir William Cecil, Lord Burghley, who served as Lord High Treasurer and Lord Privy Seal under Queen Elizabeth I.
During the 17th century, Ceciley Crofts, born in 1625, was a renowned English courtier and the mistress of King James II of England. She played a significant role in the political and social life of the English court during the Restoration period.
Another notable figure with the name Ceciley was Ceciley Brownrigg, born in 1720, an English woman infamous for the cruel treatment and eventual murder of her servant, Mary Clifford, in 1767. Her case drew significant public attention and outrage, leading to reforms in the treatment of domestic servants.
People
Ceciley + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Ceciley 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
Ceciley: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Ceciley?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 125 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Ceciley 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 2,742,035 US residents.
Is Ceciley a common name?
We classify Ceciley as "Very Rare". It ranks above 67.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 131 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Ceciley most popular?
The single biggest year for Ceciley was 1989, when 23 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Ceciley is about 36 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Ceciley in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 189 people with the name Ceciley, or 0.06 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #39,747 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 Ceciley 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 Ceciley?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Ceciley appears almost entirely female. Of the 190 people counted with this name, 99.5% 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 Ceciley?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ceciley is White at 49.2%. The next largest groups are Black (30.7%) and Hispanic (13.8%). 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 Ceciley most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Ceciley in the 2020 Census, accounting for 49.2% (93 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 Ceciley in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Ceciley a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Ceciley 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 Ceciley still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Ceciley 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 Ceciley 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 have the name Ceciley?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.