Cecilee
A feminine name derived from the Latin "caecus" meaning blind.
Name Census estimates that about 209 living Americans carry the first name Cecilee. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Cecilee today is around 30 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Cecilee births was 1990 (19 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Cecilee. 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.
People living today
209
~ 1 in 1,639,973 Americans
Peak year
1990
19 babies that year
Average age
30
years old
2017 SSA rank
#14,505
Tracked since 1951
Census
Cecilee in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 293 people with the first name Cecilee, which placed it at #29,959 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#29,959
National first-name rank
People counted
293
293 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
70.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Cecilee
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Cecilee is White at 70.0%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (14.0%) and Black (7.5%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Cecilee described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Cecilee at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White70.0% · 205
- Hispanic or Latino14.0% · 41
- Black or African American7.5% · 22
- Two or more races4.8% · 14
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.0% · 6
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.7% · 5
Popularity
Cecilee: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Cecilee from the 1950s through to the 2010s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 89 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1990s peak, Cecilee remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Cecilee 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 Cecilee during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Cecilees live
Origin
Meaning and history of Cecilee
The name Cecilee has its roots in the Latin name Caecilia, derived from the Roman family name Caecilius, which may have been connected to the Latin word "caecus," meaning "blind." It is believed to have originated in ancient Rome during the Roman Republic period, around the 5th century BC.
The name gained popularity in the early Christian era due to its association with Saint Cecilia, the patron saint of music. According to legend, Saint Cecilia lived in the 3rd century AD and was martyred for her Christian faith. She is often depicted in art playing a small organ or other musical instrument.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Cecilee can be found in the 12th century, when it appears in the Domesday Book, a manuscript record of the great survey of England completed in 1086 by order of King William the Conqueror.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Cecilee. One of the most famous was Cecilee Neville (1415-1495), an English noblewoman and the maternal grandmother of King Edward IV and King Richard III. Another notable figure was Cecilee Underwood (1459-1513), an English nun and scholar who served as the fifth abbess of Syon Abbey.
In the arts, Cecilee Chaminade (1857-1944) was a French composer and pianist who achieved great success during her lifetime and was one of the first female composers to gain widespread recognition.
Another prominent figure was Cecilee Sarah Mendelssohn (1900-1965), an American philanthropist and art collector who helped establish the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.
Cecilee Elizabeth Philp Addams (1860-1935), an American social worker and reformer, was a co-founder of the Hull House settlement in Chicago and the first American woman to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
While the name Cecilee has waxed and waned in popularity over the centuries, it has maintained a sense of historical significance and cultural resonance, reflecting its ancient origins and association with figures of artistic, religious, and social importance.
People
Cecilee + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Cecilee 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
Cecilee: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Cecilee?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 209 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Cecilee 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 1,639,973 US residents.
Is Cecilee a common name?
We classify Cecilee as "Very Rare". It ranks above 74.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 218 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Cecilee most popular?
The single biggest year for Cecilee was 1990, when 19 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Cecilee is about 30 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Cecilee in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 293 people with the name Cecilee, or 0.10 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #29,959 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Cecilee in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Cecilee?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Cecilee appears almost entirely female. Of the 295 people counted with this name, 100.0% were female and only a very small share were male. The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Cecilee?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Cecilee is White at 70.0%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (14.0%) and Black (7.5%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Cecilee most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Cecilee in the 2020 Census, accounting for 70.0% (205 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Cecilee in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Cecilee a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Cecilee in the SSA data are female. 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.
Is Cecilee still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Cecilee in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Cecilee can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
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.
How many people are named Cecilee?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.