Celest
Of Latin origin, meaning "heavenly" or "celestial".
Name Census estimates that about 1,006 living Americans carry the first name Celest. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Celest today is around 29 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Celest births was 2004 (56 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Celest. 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
1.0K
~ 1 in 340,710 Americans
Peak year
2004
56 babies that year
Average age
29
years old
2024 SSA rank
#6,968
Tracked since 1908
Census
Celest in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,110 people with the first name Celest, which placed it at #11,508 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
#11,508
National first-name rank
People counted
1.1K
1,110 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
52.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Celest
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Celest is Hispanic at 52.7%. The next largest groups are White (28.2%) and Black (12.6%). 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 Celest 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 Celest at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino52.7% · 585
- White28.2% · 313
- Black or African American12.6% · 140
- Two or more races3.7% · 41
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.4% · 16
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.4% · 15
Popularity
Celest: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Celest from the 1900s through to the 2020s, spanning 11 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 362 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Celest 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 Celest during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Celests live
Origin
Meaning and history of Celest
The name Celest has its origins in the Latin word "caelestis," meaning "heavenly" or "celestial." It is derived from the Latin word "caelum," which translates to "sky" or "heaven." The name's roots can be traced back to ancient Roman culture, where it was associated with the celestial realm and the divine.
In ancient Roman mythology, the name Celest was often used to refer to deities or celestial beings associated with the heavens, such as the goddess Venus or the personification of the night sky, Nox. The name's celestial connotations also made it a popular choice among early Christian families, who saw it as a way to honor the heavenly realm and their religious beliefs.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Celest can be found in the writings of the Roman philosopher and statesman Cicero, who lived from 106 BC to 43 BC. Cicero mentioned a woman named Celest in his work "De Officiis" (On Duties), although little is known about her beyond this reference.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Celest. One of the most famous was Celest Prouxl, a French Canadian author and Nobel Prize winner in Literature, who lived from 1892 to 1963. Her novel "Kamouraska" is considered a landmark work in Canadian literature.
Another prominent figure was Celest Albaret, a French woman who served as the long-time companion and secretary to the renowned writer Marcel Proust. Albaret's memoir, "Monsieur Proust," published in 1973, provided valuable insights into Proust's life and work.
In the realm of religion, Celest Evrard (1792-1871) was a Belgian nun and the co-founder of the Congregation of the Sisters of the Child Jesus, a Catholic religious order dedicated to education.
The name Celest also made its way into the world of art and music. Celest Ingrid (1840-1892) was a Swedish painter known for her portraits and landscapes, while Celest Vogt (1892-1976) was a Swiss composer and music educator whose works included operas and choral pieces.
Lastly, Celest Ramirez (1957-2016) was a Mexican-American artist and activist who gained recognition for her vibrant murals and advocacy work within the Chicano community in Los Angeles.
These are just a few examples of the notable individuals who have carried the name Celest throughout history, reflecting its enduring connection to the celestial realm and its diverse cultural and artistic influences.
People
Celest + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Celest 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
Celest: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Celest?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,006 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Celest 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 340,710 US residents.
Is Celest a common name?
We classify Celest as "Rare". It ranks above 90.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,081 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Celest most popular?
The single biggest year for Celest was 2004, when 56 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Celest is about 29 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Celest in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,110 people with the name Celest, or 0.37 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #11,508 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 Celest 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 Celest?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Celest leans strongly female. 1,097 people counted with this name were female (98.7%), compared with 15 male bearers (1.3%). 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 Celest?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Celest is Hispanic at 52.7%. The next largest groups are White (28.2%) and Black (12.6%). 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 Celest most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Celest in the 2020 Census, accounting for 52.7% (585 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 Celest in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Celest a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Celest 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 Celest still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Celest 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 Celest 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 share the name Celest?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.