Celena
A feminine name of uncertain origin, possibly a variant of Celina.
Name Census estimates that about 4,369 living Americans carry the first name Celena. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Celena today is around 37 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Celena births was 1995 (202 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Celena. 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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Celena with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
4.4K
~ 1 in 78,451 Americans
Peak year
1995
202 babies that year
Average age
37
years old
2024 SSA rank
#5,460
Tracked since 1890
Census
Celena in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 4,091 people with the first name Celena, which placed it at #4,518 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
#4,518
National first-name rank
People counted
4.1K
4,091 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
40.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Celena
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Celena is White at 40.6%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (31.6%) and Black (16.1%). 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 Celena 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 Celena at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White40.6% · 1,662
- Hispanic or Latino31.6% · 1,292
- Black or African American16.1% · 659
- Two or more races5.4% · 220
- Asian and Pacific Islander4.6% · 190
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.7% · 68
Popularity
Celena: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Celena from the 1890s through to the 2020s, spanning 14 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 1,253 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1970s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Celena 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 Celena during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Celenas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 25 states and territories. California, Texas, New York recorded the most babies named Celena, while Wisconsin, Virginia, Oregon recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 79 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Celena
The name Celena finds its origins in the ancient Greek language, with its roots traced back to the 5th century BCE. Derived from the Greek word "kallos," meaning "beauty," Celena was initially used to describe a person of remarkable physical charm and grace.
During the classical period of ancient Greece, the name Celena was associated with various mythological figures renowned for their alluring appearances. One notable example is the nymph Celene, who was said to be among the most captivating of her kind, often depicted in art and literature as a symbol of feminine beauty.
As the name spread across the Mediterranean region, it adopted variations in spelling and pronunciation. In ancient Rome, the name was Latinized to "Caelena," while in Byzantine circles, it was rendered as "Kaleina."
The earliest recorded use of the name Celena dates back to the 1st century CE, when it appeared in a fragmentary papyrus document discovered in the Egyptian town of Oxyrhynchus. This ancient text, written in Greek, mentions a woman named Celena, though her identity and role remain unclear.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Celena. One such figure is Celena, a 4th-century Christian martyr from Gaul (modern-day France), who was persecuted for her religious beliefs during the reign of the Roman Emperor Diocletian (244-311 CE).
Another influential Celena was a Byzantine empress who lived in the 11th century CE. Known as Celena of Alania, she was the wife of the Byzantine Emperor Constantine IX Monomachos (1000-1055 CE) and played a significant role in the political affairs of the empire during her husband's reign.
In the realm of literature, Celena is the name of a character in the 16th-century Spanish novel "La Celestina" by Fernando de Rojas (c. 1470-1541). This literary work, considered a masterpiece of Spanish Renaissance literature, features Celena as a young woman caught in a tragic love affair.
During the Renaissance period, the name Celena gained popularity among artists and intellectuals. One notable bearer of the name was Celena Benucci (1495-1546), an Italian artist and sculptor known for her intricate woodcarvings and her association with the renowned Renaissance artist Michelangelo.
In more recent times, Celena Gonzalez (1860-1925) was a renowned Mexican painter and educator who played a vital role in promoting the arts and advocating for women's education in her home country during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
People
Celena + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Celena 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
Celena: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Celena?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 4,369 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Celena 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 78,451 US residents.
Is Celena a common name?
We classify Celena as "Rare". It ranks above 96.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 4,752 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Celena most popular?
The single biggest year for Celena was 1995, when 202 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Celena is about 37 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Celena in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 4,091 people with the name Celena, or 1.35 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #4,518 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 Celena 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 Celena?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Celena appears almost entirely female. Of the 4,088 people counted with this name, 99.9% 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 Celena?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Celena is White at 40.6%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (31.6%) and Black (16.1%). 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 Celena most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Celena in the 2020 Census, accounting for 40.6% (1,662 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 Celena in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Celena a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Celena 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 Celena still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Celena 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 Celena 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 called Celena?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.