How Many People Are Named Cecelia?
An estimated 29,588 people in the United States have the first name Cecelia. It is almost exclusively a female name. The average bearer is 43 years old, and Cecelia peaked in popularity in 1918 with 935 births that year.
Below you will find a full statistical profile of Cecelia as a first name in the United States, including gender data, a year-by-year popularity timeline going back to 1880, a decade breakdown, and state-by-state birth registrations. You can also check how many people share the full name Cecelia paired with any surname.
Estimated Living Americans
29,588
About 1 in 11,584 people in the U.S.
Rarity
Uncommon
Predicted Gender
Female
100.0% confidence
Average Age
43
years old
Peak Year
1918
935 births
Total Registered
59,959
since 1880
Gender Distribution for Cecelia
Cecelia is almost exclusively a female name. Out of 59,959 total births registered, 100.0% were female.
Cecelia as a male name
Ranked #3,618 in 1943
5 male births in 1943
Peak: 1932 (6 births)
Cecelia as a female name
Ranked #568 in 2024
529 female births in 2024
Peak: 1918 (935 births)
Cecelia: Popularity Over Time
SSA records for Cecelia span from the 1880s to the 2020s, covering 15 decades of naming data. The most popular decade for this name was the 1940s, when 7,368 babies were registered. While Cecelia is less common than at its peak in the 1940s, it remains a well-established name with steady registrations.
Cecelia by Decade
How has Cecelia tracked across different eras? The table below groups all SSA birth registrations into 10-year periods, with separate male and female counts. The colored bar shows each decade's share relative to the peak.
| Decade | Total | Male | Female | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1880s | 852 | 0 | 852 | |
| 1890s | 1,784 | 0 | 1,784 | |
| 1900s | 2,793 | 0 | 2,793 | |
| 1910s | 6,905 | 0 | 6,905 | |
| 1920s | 7,169 | 0 | 7,169 | |
| 1930s | 4,598 | 6 | 4,592 | |
| 1940s | 7,368 | 5 | 7,363 | |
| 1950s | 6,898 | 0 | 6,898 | |
| 1960s | 3,857 | 0 | 3,857 | |
| 1970s | 1,837 | 0 | 1,837 | |
| 1980s | 1,825 | 0 | 1,825 | |
| 1990s | 2,446 | 0 | 2,446 | |
| 2000s | 3,654 | 0 | 3,654 | |
| 2010s | 5,170 | 0 | 5,170 | |
| 2020s | 2,803 | 0 | 2,803 | |
Cecelia by State
Birth registrations for Cecelia span all 49 states and territories in the SSA database. The highest counts are in Pennsylvania, New York, California. The lowest are in Nevada, Delaware, Alaska. On average, about 1,008 Cecelias were registered per state.
Cecelia + Last Name Combinations
How many people share a full name with Cecelia as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Names Similar to Cecelia
Other first names starting with C with a similar number of bearers.
Cecelia: Questions and Answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Cecelia?
We estimate approximately 29,588 people named Cecelia are alive in the United States today. This is based on SSA birth records from 1880 to 2024, adjusted for mortality using CDC life tables. About 1 in 11,584 Americans share this first name.
Is Cecelia a common name?
Cecelia is classified as "Uncommon" and is more popular than 98.8% of all first names in the SSA database. A total of 59,959 births have been registered with this name since 1880.
When was Cecelia most popular?
Cecelia reached peak popularity in 1918, when 935 babies were given this name. The average age of a living person named Cecelia is approximately 43 years old, reflecting when the name was most commonly given.
Is Cecelia a female name?
Cecelia is predominantly female. 100.0% of people with this name are female. See the gender breakdown above for full details.
How many Cecelia Smiths are there?
To find how many people share a specific full name, we combine first name and surname frequencies. Try: Cecelia Smith, Cecelia Johnson, Cecelia Williams. You can also search any combination on our homepage.
Where does this data come from?
Our estimates use Social Security Administration birth records (1880 to 2024), adjusted for survival using CDC 2023 life tables broken down by sex. The U.S. population figure (342,754,338) is from the Census Bureau's July 2025 estimate. Full methodology.
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