Cecille
A feminine given name of Latin origin meaning "blind" or "dim-sighted".
Name Census estimates that about 347 living Americans carry the first name Cecille. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Cecille today is around 58 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Cecille births was 1942 (26 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Cecille. 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 Cecille with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
347
~ 1 in 987,765 Americans
Peak year
1942
26 babies that year
Average age
58
years old
2022 SSA rank
#13,940
Tracked since 1888
Census
Cecille in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,191 people with the first name Cecille, which placed it at #10,964 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
#10,964
National first-name rank
People counted
1.2K
1,191 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
44.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Cecille
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Cecille is Asian/Pacific Islander at 44.8%. The next largest groups are White (28.7%) and Black (14.6%). 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 Cecille 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 Cecille at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander44.8% · 534
- White28.7% · 342
- Black or African American14.6% · 174
- Hispanic or Latino8.2% · 98
- Two or more races2.8% · 33
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.8% · 10
Popularity
Cecille: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Cecille 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 177 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
Cecille 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 Cecille during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Cecilles live
The SSA's state-level files cover 4 states and territories. New York, California, Illinois recorded the most babies named Cecille, while Massachusetts, Illinois, California recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 9 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Cecille
The name Cecille has its roots in the Latin name Caecilia, derived from the Roman family name Caecilius. The name is thought to have originated from the Latin word "caecus," meaning blind. The earliest known use of the name dates back to the 3rd century AD.
In ancient Roman times, the name Caecilia was associated with a Roman patrician family, the Gens Caecilia. One of the earliest recorded individuals with this name was Saint Caecilia, a semi-legendary martyr from the late 2nd or early 3rd century AD. She is the patron saint of musicians and is often depicted playing the organ or other instruments.
The name Cecille, with its various spellings, has been popular throughout Europe for centuries. In the 12th century, Cecille de Lézignan, a French noblewoman, was the wife of Raymond VI, Count of Toulouse. Another notable figure was Cecille Renault, a 13th-century French abbess and writer.
During the Renaissance period, the name Cecille gained popularity in artistic circles. Cecille de Volanges, a character in the 1782 French epistolary novel "Les Liaisons dangereuses" by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos, is one of the most famous literary references to the name.
In the 19th century, Cecille Chaminade (1857-1944) was a renowned French composer and pianist, known for her works in the Romantic style. Another notable figure was Cecille de Masse (1835-1911), a French painter and sculptor.
In the 20th century, Cecille Brunner (1876-1959) was an influential French rose breeder, known for creating the popular Cecille Brunner rose variety. Cecille Aubry (1913-2010) was a French film actress who appeared in over 100 movies throughout her career.
People
Cecille + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Cecille 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
Cecille: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Cecille?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 347 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Cecille 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 987,765 US residents.
Is Cecille a common name?
We classify Cecille as "Very Rare". It ranks above 80.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 984 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Cecille most popular?
The single biggest year for Cecille was 1942, when 26 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Cecille is about 58 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Cecille in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,191 people with the name Cecille, or 0.39 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #10,964 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 Cecille 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 Cecille?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Cecille appears almost entirely female. Of the 1,198 people counted with this name, 99.2% 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 Cecille?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Cecille is Asian/Pacific Islander at 44.8%. The next largest groups are White (28.7%) and Black (14.6%). 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 Cecille most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Cecille in the 2020 Census, accounting for 44.8% (534 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 Cecille in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Cecille a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Cecille 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 Cecille still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Cecille 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 Cecille 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 Cecille?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many Americans are named Cecille at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.