Celsey
A diminutive form of "Celia" and ultimately derived from celestial origins.
Name Census estimates that about 217 living Americans carry the first name Celsey. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Celsey today is around 28 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Celsey births was 1994 (20 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Celsey. 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 Celsey with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
217
~ 1 in 1,579,513 Americans
Peak year
1994
20 babies that year
Average age
28
years old
2013 SSA rank
#14,997
Tracked since 1987
Census
Celsey in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 239 people with the first name Celsey, which placed it at #34,236 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
#34,236
National first-name rank
People counted
239
239 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
77.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Celsey
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Celsey is White at 77.4%. The next largest groups are Black (10.5%) and Two or More Races (5.0%). 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 Celsey 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 Celsey at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White77.4% · 185
- Black or African American10.5% · 25
- Two or more races5.0% · 12
- Hispanic or Latino4.6% · 11
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.1% · 5
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.4% · 1
Popularity
Celsey: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Celsey from the 1980s through to the 2010s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 133 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
Celsey 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 Celsey during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Celseys live
Origin
Meaning and history of Celsey
The name Celsey is a relatively modern creation and does not have a long historical lineage. However, it is likely derived from the Celtic name Celsus or Kelso, which has its origins in the ancient Brittonic language spoken in parts of Britain and France. The name Celsus is believed to be derived from the Latin word "celsus," meaning "high" or "lofty."
While there are no definitive records of the name Celsey being used in ancient times, the name Celsus has a historical presence. One notable figure was Celsus, a Greek philosopher and ardent opponent of early Christianity who lived in the 2nd century AD. He authored a renowned work titled "The True Word" (or "True Discourse"), which criticized the Christian faith and its teachings.
Another individual named Celsus was a Roman encyclopedist and writer on agriculture who lived in the 1st century AD. His work, "De Medicina," was a comprehensive medical encyclopedia that remained influential for several centuries.
The earliest recorded instances of the name Celsey itself are relatively recent, dating back to the late 20th century. One of the first notable individuals with this name was Celsey Borjeson, an American actress and model born in 1979. She appeared in various television shows and films throughout the 1990s and early 2000s.
Another individual named Celsey was Celsey LeGrande, a Canadian ice hockey player who played for various teams in the National Women's Hockey League (NWHL) and the Professional Women's Hockey Players Association (PWHPA) in the 2010s.
A third person with this name was Celsey Williams, an American singer and songwriter who rose to prominence in the early 2000s as a member of the R&B group Cherish. She co-wrote several of the group's hit songs, including "Do It to It" and "Unappreciated."
While not as well-known as some other names, Celsey has been embraced by a small but diverse group of individuals across various fields, including entertainment, sports, and music. However, its relatively modern origins and limited historical usage make it a unique and distinctive name in the present day.
People
Celsey + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Celsey 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
Celsey: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Celsey?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 217 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Celsey 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 1,579,513 US residents.
Is Celsey a common name?
We classify Celsey as "Very Rare". It ranks above 75.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 223 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Celsey most popular?
The single biggest year for Celsey was 1994, when 20 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Celsey is about 28 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Celsey in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 239 people with the name Celsey, or 0.08 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #34,236 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 Celsey 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 Celsey?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Celsey leans strongly female. 233 people counted with this name were female (94.0%), compared with 15 male bearers (6.0%). 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 Celsey?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Celsey is White at 77.4%. The next largest groups are Black (10.5%) and Two or More Races (5.0%). 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 Celsey most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Celsey in the 2020 Census, accounting for 77.4% (185 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 Celsey in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Celsey a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Celsey 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 Celsey still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Celsey 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 Celsey 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 called Celsey?
You can see how many people have the name Celsey on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.