Cecilia

Spellings & scripts●

Locally spelled Cecelia in US United States, GB United Kingdom, CA Canada and 6 more.

Spellings marked ● are how people bearing the name write it in our records; ○ marks a model's transliteration. Click a spelling to open its page.

Meaning & origin●

Attested across 5 languages in the etymology graph.

Languages●

Language is read off each record's context, not declared by the bearer; a share is of all records for this spelling.

Other names spelled this way◐

Cecilia is also recorded as 7 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• French given name1.3M records spelled Cecilia128 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in France, United States, Brazil, Philippines

  Languages: French, English, Portuguese

  Also written Cecile, Cécile, Cecília, Cécilia, Cecil

• a separate given name68K records spelled Cecilia5 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, United Kingdom, Italy, Canada

  Also written Cecília, Cécilia, Ceciliâ, Cecìlia

• Swahili given name65K records spelled Cecilia8 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Kenya, United States, Philippines, Nigeria

  Languages: Swahili, Southern Sotho, Kinyarwanda

  Also written Cècilia, Cécilia, Cecília

• Swedish given name56K records spelled Cecilia23 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Sweden, United States, Denmark, Norway

  Languages: Swedish, Danish, Norwegian

  Also written Cæcilia, Caecilia, Cécilia, Cecília, Cêcilia

• Finnish given name32K records spelled Cecilia6 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Finland, Sweden, United States, Philippines

  Languages: Finnish, Estonian

  Also written Cecília, Cècilia, Cécilia

• Lao given name10K records spelled Cecilia7 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Laos, United States, Chile, Thailand

  Languages: Lao, Thai

  Also written Cécílíá, Cécilia, Cecília, Cêcîlîa

• Polish given name8.1K records spelled Cecilia6 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Czechia, Poland, United States, Sweden

  Languages: Polish, Czech, Slovak

  Also written Cecília, Cécilia, Cècilia

81 further groups record this spelling and are not listed here.

Grouping is the name graph's, not a register's: two spellings join a group when the evidence links them, so a group is a claim about the records rather than about the people.

Other recorded senses●

Cecilia is also recorded in 5 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.

• In English, The blind one or the sixth; feminine form of Cecil.

  as a name·Baby names, 25,350 baby names nicknames for your family, friends pets, including the top 100 names, 2,000 most popular…

• From Latin. See main dictionary. Masculine form: Cecilio. Celso $ From the Latin family name Celsus, ‘tall’, originally a nickname.

  as a name·A concise dictionary of first names

• A form of Cecily used in Ireland, where it is more common than Cecily itself. Cecily [Sisi/e] (f) A feminine of Cecil. It was introduced into Ireland by the Normans, where it took the Gaelic form Sile (English Sheila, q.v.). Sisile is a later form.

  as a name·Irish first names

• In Italian, do nome lat. Caecilia; matronímico do tronco familiar

  as a name·Dicionário dos sobrenomes italianos

• In Italian, Dal lat. Caecilia, femminile di Caecilius; nome dell'antica gens romana.

  as a name·Dizionario Dei Nomi e Cognomi Italiani

Ordered by how much of this spelling's record each language holds, so a sense from a language the name is barely used in sits last rather than first.

Over time●

US SSA — National Baby Names (1880–present) — 146 years between 1880–2025. One register's own figures, never a sum across registers: two registers counting the same people would double them.

Notable people with this name●

• Cecilia Helena Payne Gaposchkinb. 1900USBritish-born American astronomer
• Suzy Parkerb. 1932USnot in their usual nameAmerican model and actress (1932–2003)
• Cecilia Rothb. 1956ARArgentine actress
• Cécilia Attiasb. 1957FRformer wife of former French President Nicolas Sarkozy
• Cecilia Peckb. 1958USAmerican actress and director
• Cecil Boloccob. 1965CLnot in their usual nameChilean television presenter and beauty pageant contestant
• Cecilia Bartolib. 1966ITItalian opera singer (born 1966)
• Cecilia Malmströmb. 1968SESwedish politician
• Jennifer Espositob. 1973USnot in their usual nameAmerican actress
• Sally Hawkinsb. 1976GBnot in their usual nameEnglish actress (1976–)

The ten people covered by the most Wikipedia language editions — a proxy for cross-cultural notability, which favours historical and Western figures over equally prominent contemporary ones — shown by birth year. Source: Wikidata (CC0).

Evidence●

Register rows as of the 2026-09-12 data build · 1,383 rows in the corpus for this spelling.

Frequently asked questions

How common is the name Cecilia?

We estimate roughly 423 thousand people bear Cecilia (counting its spellings and scripts) across 11 countries in our records.

In which country does Cecilia have the most bearers?

Cecilia is most frequently recorded in Argentina, where it is most often spelled cecilia.

Where is Cecilia most common?

Measured as a share of residents rather than as a count, Cecilia is densest in Sweden — about 1 in 155 people — even though Argentina holds more of our records for it.

How common is Cecilia compared with other names?

In Argentina, Cecilia is the 107th most common given name of 517,176 given names recorded there.

Is Cecilia a male or female name?

Cecilia is a female name in our records. Opposite-gender entries fall within the cross-gender noise we measure in the source data, so we don't report them as usage.

What does the name Cecilia mean?

Recorded meaning: Irish form of Cecily, more common in Ireland than Cecily itself.