Cesily
A feminine English name derived from the Latin name Caecilia, meaning "blind".
Name Census estimates that about 92 living Americans carry the first name Cesily. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Cesily today is around 37 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Cesily births was 1990 (23 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Cesily. 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
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Cesily. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
92
~ 1 in 3,725,591 Americans
Peak year
1990
23 babies that year
Average age
37
years old
2007 SSA rank
#18,167
Tracked since 1976
Census
Cesily in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 148 people with the first name Cesily, which placed it at #45,698 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
#45,698
National first-name rank
People counted
148
148 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
44.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Cesily
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Cesily is White at 44.6%. The next largest groups are Black (23.6%) and Hispanic (19.6%). 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 Cesily 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 Cesily at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White44.6% · 66
- Black or African American23.6% · 35
- Hispanic or Latino19.6% · 29
- Asian and Pacific Islander5.4% · 8
- Two or more races4.1% · 6
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.7% · 4
Popularity
Cesily: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Cesily 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 45 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
Cesily 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 Cesily 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 Cesily
The name Cesily has its origins in the medieval English form of the Latin name Caecilia. The name Caecilia is derived from the Roman family name Caecilius, which is thought to come from the Latin word "caecus" meaning "blind." It is believed that the name was originally a nickname given to someone with impaired vision or to a member of the Caecilii family.
In the Middle Ages, the name Caecilia became popular among Christians due to its association with Saint Cecilia, the patroness of music and one of the most revered virgin martyrs in the Catholic Church. The name was commonly spelled as Cecily or Cesily in medieval England, and it was particularly favored by the nobility.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Cesily can be found in the Domesday Book, a great survey of England commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1086. The name is mentioned in the records as belonging to a woman named Cesily of Shropshire.
Throughout history, there have been several notable women named Cesily or variations of the name. One of the most famous was Cecily Neville, Duchess of York (1415-1495), who was the mother of two kings of England, Edward IV and Richard III. Another notable Cesily was Cecily Bonville, Baroness Harington and Bonville (c. 1460-1529), a wealthy English noblewoman and landowner.
In the 16th century, the name was borne by Cecily Tyndale (c. 1506-1553), the sister of the famous Protestant reformer William Tyndale. Cecily Tyndale was a staunch supporter of her brother's work and played a crucial role in preserving and distributing his translations of the Bible.
Another notable Cesily was Cecily Bulstrode (c. 1585-1639), an English poet and author who wrote religious and moral works. Her most famous work was a collection of poems titled "Poems of the Fervent Lover of Divine Love."
In the 17th century, the name was used by Cecily Mackworth (c. 1620-1698), an English heiress and patron of the arts. She was known for her support of writers and artists, including the poet John Dryden, who dedicated several works to her.
While the name Cesily has fallen out of widespread use in modern times, it continues to be a testament to its rich historical heritage and its enduring association with strength, faith, and artistic expression.
People
Cesily + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Cesily 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
Cesily: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Cesily?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 92 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Cesily 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 3,725,591 US residents.
Is Cesily a common name?
We classify Cesily as "Very Rare". It ranks above 63.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 97 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Cesily most popular?
The single biggest year for Cesily was 1990, when 23 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Cesily is about 37 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Cesily in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 148 people with the name Cesily, or 0.05 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #45,698 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 Cesily 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 Cesily?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Cesily leans strongly female. 144 people counted with this name were female (97.3%), compared with 4 male bearers (2.7%). 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 Cesily?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Cesily is White at 44.6%. The next largest groups are Black (23.6%) and Hispanic (19.6%). 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 Cesily most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Cesily in the 2020 Census, accounting for 44.6% (66 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 Cesily in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Cesily a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Cesily 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 Cesily still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Cesily 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 Cesily 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 Cesily?
Find out how many people have the name Cesily on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.