Cecil
A masculine name derived from the Latin name Caecilius, meaning "blind".
Name Census estimates that about 39,309 living Americans carry the first name Cecil. It is a predominantly male name (93.3% of registrations). The average person named Cecil today is around 65 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Cecil births was 1920 (2,672 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Cecil. 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
- • Compared to the 1920s, recent registration numbers for Cecil have dropped to less than 5% of what they once were.
People living today
39K
~ 1 in 8,719 Americans
Peak year
1920
2,672 babies that year
Average age
65
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,479
Tracked since 1880
Gender
Gender distribution for Cecil
Cecil leans heavily male at 93.3% of total registrations, but 7,687 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Cecil as a male name
- Ranked #1,479 in 2024
- 122 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1920 (2,459 births)
Cecil as a female name
- Ranked #15,771 in 2022
- 5 female births in 2022
- Peak: 1916 (241 births)
Popularity
Cecil: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Cecil from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 24,003 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1920s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Cecil 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 Cecil during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Cecils live
The SSA's state-level files cover 49 states and territories. Texas, Alabama, Kentucky recorded the most babies named Cecil, while Hawaii, Alaska, Delaware recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 2,034 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Cecil
The name Cecil has its origins in the Latin name Caecilius, which is derived from the Latin word "caecus," meaning "blind." The name entered the English language through the Norman French form "Cécile."
In ancient Rome, Caecilius was a common Roman family name, and it was borne by several notable historical figures, including the Roman statesman and philosopher Caecilius Statius, who lived in the 2nd century BC.
One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Cecil can be found in the 12th century, when it was used by the English nobleman Cecil of Sceaun. In the Middle Ages, the name became popular among the Norman aristocracy in England.
In the 16th century, the name gained prominence with Sir William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley (1520-1598), who served as Lord High Treasurer and principal advisor to Queen Elizabeth I. His son, Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury (1563-1612), also played a crucial role in the English government as Secretary of State.
Another notable bearer of the name was Cecil Calvert, 2nd Baron Baltimore (1605-1675), the founder of the Maryland colony in British North America. He established the settlement of St. Mary's City in 1634, which became the first capital of the colony.
In literature, the name appears in works such as William Shakespeare's play "Richard III," where the character Lord Grey mentions "Cecil, Underhill, and the good Sir Robert Brackenbury."
Other notable figures named Cecil include Cecil Rhodes (1853-1902), the British businessman and politician who founded the territory of Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe and Zambia), and Cecil B. DeMille (1881-1959), the renowned American filmmaker known for epic productions such as "The Ten Commandments" and "The Greatest Show on Earth."
Notable bearers
Famous people named Cecil
People
Cecil + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Cecil 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
Cecil: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Cecil?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 39,309 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Cecil 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 8,719 US residents.
Is Cecil a common name?
We classify Cecil as "Uncommon". It ranks above 99% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 114,554 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Cecil most popular?
The single biggest year for Cecil was 1920, when 2,672 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Cecil is about 65 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Cecil a male name?
Yes, 93.3% of people registered as Cecil in the SSA data are male. 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.
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.