Cornelia

Spellings & scripts●

Locally spelled Kornelia in PL Poland, CZ Czechia, BG Bulgaria and 1 more, Kornelija in HR Croatia, Корнелія in UA Ukraine and Корнелия in RU Russia.

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 15 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◐

Cornelia is also recorded as 3 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• Spanish given name103K records spelled Cornelia17 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Brazil, Argentina, Spain, United States

  Languages: Spanish, Portuguese, French

  Also written Cornélia, Cornèlia, Cornelía, Cörnëliã, Corñeliâ

• Romanian given name14K records spelled Cornelia3 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Romania, United States, Moldova, Philippines

  Also written Cornelià

• a separate given name6.7K records spelled Cornelia2 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Netherlands, United Kingdom, Switzerland

  Also written Cornélia

56 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●

Cornelia 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.

• From the Latin feminine form of the old Roman family name pCornelius. It was borne in the 2nd century Bc by the mother of the revolutionary reformers Tiberius and Gaius Sempronius Gracchus, and is still occasionally bestowed in her honour.

  as a name·A concise dictionary of first names

• In English, A female given name from Latin in quiet use since the 18th century.

  as a word·kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

• In Swedish, Cornelia är en femininform till → Cornelius. En känd namnbärare är artisten Cornelia Jakobs (f. 1992). I den rikssvenska almanackan 3 december.

  as a name·Förnamn i Sverige. Kortfattat namnlexikon

• In German, ) Comelie; Komelia: weibl.

  as a name·DUDEN Lexikon der Vornamen

• Feminine of corNELIUs.

  as a name·A concise dictionary of first names

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●

• Cornelia Sorabjib. 1866INIndian barrister, writer, and social reformer; first female graduate from Bombay University, first woman to study law at Oxford University; first Indian national to study at a British university (1866-1954)
• Corrie ten Boomb. 1892NLnot in their usual nameDutch resistance hero and writer
• Cornelia Otis Skinnerb. 1899USAmerican actress and author (1899–1979)
• Cornelia Boumanb. 1903NLDutch tennis player (1903-1998)
• Cornelia Froboessb. 1943DEGerman actress
• Cox Habbemab. 1944NLnot in their usual nameDutch television actor, film actor, theatre director and actor (1944–2016)
• Cornelia Funkeb. 1958DEGerman author (born 1958)
• Cornelia Bargmannb. 1961USAmerican neurobiologist
• Sandra Romainb. 1978ROnot in their usual nameRomanian pornographic actress
• Cornelia Jakobsb. 1992SESwedish singer and songwriter (1992–)

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 · 862 rows in the corpus for this spelling.

Frequently asked questions

How common is the name Cornelia?

We estimate roughly 86 thousand people bear Cornelia (counting its spellings and scripts) across 12 countries in our records.

In which country does Cornelia have the most bearers?

Cornelia is most frequently recorded in Germany, where it is most often spelled cornelia.

How common is Cornelia compared with other names?

In Germany, Cornelia is the 186th most common given name of 154,506 given names recorded there.

Is Cornelia a male or female name?

Cornelia 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 Cornelia mean?

Recorded meaning: feminine form of the gens name Cornelius