Ceola
A feminine name derived from the Old English words "ceol" meaning ship and "leoma" meaning protector.
Name Census estimates that about 460 living Americans carry the first name Ceola. It is a predominantly female name (99.0% of registrations). The average person named Ceola today is around 75 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Ceola births was 1924 (75 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Ceola. 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.
Key insights
- • The typical person named Ceola is about 75 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Ceolas were born before 1961.
People living today
460
~ 1 in 745,118 Americans
Peak year
1924
75 babies that year
Average age
75
years old
1936 SSA rank
#3,202
Tracked since 1890
Census
Ceola in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 653 people with the first name Ceola, which placed it at #17,051 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
#17,051
National first-name rank
People counted
653
653 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
85.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Ceola
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ceola is Black at 85.1%. The next largest groups are White (9.5%) and Two or More Races (3.2%). 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 Ceola 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 Ceola at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American85.1% · 556
- White9.5% · 62
- Two or more races3.2% · 21
- Hispanic or Latino1.8% · 12
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.3% · 2
Gender
Gender distribution for Ceola
Out of the 2,185 babies given the name Ceola since 1880, 99.0% 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.
Ceola as a male name
- Ranked #3,202 in 1936
- 6 male births in 1936
- Peak: 1936 (6 births)
Ceola as a female name
- Ranked #12,110 in 1988
- 5 female births in 1988
- Peak: 1924 (70 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Ceola leans strongly female. 627 people counted with this name were female (95.4%), compared with 30 male bearers (4.6%).
Popularity
Ceola: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Ceola from the 1890s through to the 1980s, spanning 10 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 549 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
Ceola 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 Ceola during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Ceolas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 7 states and territories. Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana recorded the most babies named Ceola, while Oklahoma, Arkansas, Texas recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 134 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Ceola
The name Ceola has its origins in Old English, derived from the words "ceol" meaning "ship" and "leah" meaning "clearing" or "meadow." It was a common name among the Anglo-Saxons in England during the 6th to 11th centuries.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Ceola is found in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, a historical record that dates back to the late 9th century. The chronicle mentions a person named Ceola who was an ealdorman (nobleman) in the kingdom of Mercia during the reign of King Coenwalh in the 7th century.
Another notable historical figure with the name Ceola was a Northumbrian prince who lived in the late 7th century. He was the son of King Cutha of Northumbria and is mentioned in the writings of the Venerable Bede, an English monk and scholar from the 8th century.
In the 9th century, there was a Ceola who served as the Bishop of Mercia from around 825 to 840 AD. He is mentioned in various ecclesiastical records and chronicles from that period.
During the 10th century, a prominent individual named Ceola was the Ealdorman of Defenascir (modern-day Devonshire) in the Kingdom of Wessex. He is mentioned in several Anglo-Saxon charters and legal documents from that time.
Another historical figure with the name Ceola was a thegn (lord or nobleman) who lived in the late 11th century during the reign of King William I of England (also known as William the Conqueror). He is mentioned in the Domesday Book, a comprehensive survey of land holdings and estates in England commissioned by William I in 1086.
While the name Ceola was primarily used in Anglo-Saxon England, it has also been recorded in other parts of Europe, particularly in areas with Germanic influences. However, its usage declined significantly after the Norman Conquest of England in 1066, as many Old English names were gradually replaced by French and Norman names.
People
Ceola + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Ceola 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
Ceola: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Ceola?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 460 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Ceola 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 745,118 US residents.
Is Ceola a common name?
We classify Ceola as "Very Rare". It ranks above 83.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,185 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Ceola most popular?
The single biggest year for Ceola was 1924, when 75 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Ceola is about 75 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Ceola in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 653 people with the name Ceola, or 0.22 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #17,051 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 Ceola 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 Ceola?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Ceola leans strongly female. 627 people counted with this name were female (95.4%), compared with 30 male bearers (4.6%). 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 Ceola?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ceola is Black at 85.1%. The next largest groups are White (9.5%) and Two or More Races (3.2%). 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 Ceola most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Ceola in the 2020 Census, accounting for 85.1% (556 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 Ceola in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Ceola a female name?
Yes, 99.0% of people registered as Ceola 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 Ceola still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Ceola 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 Ceola 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 common is the name Ceola?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.