Cecilia

What Cecilia means

Possibly “blind”

From Latin Caecilia, feminine form of Caecilius, a Roman family name possibly derived from the byname caecus (“blind”).

Source: Wiktionary, “Cecilia” (revision 93670128), CC BY-SA 4.0. Quoted from the etymology; we don’t write our own.

How popular is Cecilia?

US: Rising: up from #181 in 2015. England & Wales: Rising: up from #492 in 2015.

Biggest US share so far: 2025, when 2,506 girls got the name (#108 that year). First in the US records in 1880.

How common

• About 1 in 641 baby girls in the US in 2025
• About 1 in 898 baby girls in England and Wales in 2025
• About 1 in 1,988 baby girls in Scotland in 2025

“1 in N” divides by all listed births for that sex. The US list leaves out names given to fewer than 5 babies, and the UK lists leave out names given to 2 or fewer, so the real figure is a little rarer than shown.

Where in the US

Most popular in VT (8.21 per 1,000 girls), CT (5.39 per 1,000 girls), DE (5.32 per 1,000 girls) in 2025.

SSA state data, 2025. Share of all listed girls born in each state.

US vs UK

Cecilia is #108 in the US and #172 in England & Wales (2025).

Same sex as this page (girls). SSA (US), ONS (England and Wales), NRS (Scotland).

Boy or girl?

In 2025, 99.9+% of US babies named Cecilia were girls.

Counts below the publishing threshold (US 5, UK 3) are not included.

How to say it

IPA from Wiktionary.

Other spellings parents chose in 2025

• Cecelia569 US · 95 E&W
• Sicilia27 US
• Cecilie8 US · 6 E&W

Names that sound the same and differ by a letter or two, with baby counts for the same sex. US and E&W counts.

Nicknames

• Sissy
• Ceecee
• CeeCee
• Cici
• Ceci

Listed on Wiktionary under “pet forms”.

If you like Cecilia

Girls

• Mabel#201“lovable”^*
• Nova#46“new”^*
• Aurora#15Italian, from Latin Aurōra, meaning “dawn, sunrise”^*
• Emilia#45Variant of Emily, meaning “rival, emulator”^*
• Flora#607Editor’s note Climbing fast in the US: #1,337 in 2015, #607 in 2025
• Aura#817“breeze”^*

For a brother

• Augustine#545Same root as Austin, meaning “majestic”^*
• August#81“month of August”^*
• Felix#175“happy, lucky”^*
• Augustus#407“majestic, venerable”^*
• Bennett#40Form of Benedict, meaning “blessed, well spoken of”^*
• Theodore#4Editor’s note Climbing fast in the US: #99 in 2015, #4 in 2025

Picked from the US top 1,000 in 2025: names Wiktionary also files under Latin, whose US popularity since 1990 rose and fell most like Cecilia’s. Rank is US 2025.