Celes
A feminine name derived from the Latin "caelestis" meaning heavenly or celestial.
Name Census estimates that about 260 living Americans carry the first name Celes. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Celes today is around 17 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Celes births was 2024 (17 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Celes. 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
260
~ 1 in 1,318,286 Americans
Peak year
2024
17 babies that year
Average age
17
years old
2024 SSA rank
#6,660
Tracked since 1965
Census
Celes in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 318 people with the first name Celes, which placed it at #28,322 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
#28,322
National first-name rank
People counted
318
318 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
38.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Celes
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Celes is White at 38.4%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (28.0%) and Black (20.4%). 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 Celes 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 Celes at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White38.4% · 122
- Hispanic or Latino28.0% · 89
- Black or African American20.4% · 65
- Asian and Pacific Islander6.9% · 22
- Two or more races6.0% · 19
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.3% · 1
Popularity
Celes: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Celes from the 1960s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 86 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Celes remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Celes 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 Celes during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Celes
The name Celes has its roots in Latin and ancient Roman culture, originating from the word "caelestis," meaning "heavenly" or "celestial." It is closely related to the name Celestine, which shares the same linguistic heritage.
In ancient Rome, the name Celes was often associated with deities and celestial beings, reflecting the reverence for the heavens and the divine realm. It was a name bestowed upon individuals believed to have a connection with the celestial realm or those born under auspicious astrological circumstances.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Celes can be found in the writings of the Roman poet Ovid, who lived from 43 BC to 17 AD. In his epic work "Metamorphoses," Ovid mentions a character named Celes, though the specific details of this character remain obscure.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Celes. One of the earliest recorded figures was Celes Victor, a Roman general who lived in the 3rd century AD and played a significant role in the military campaigns of the Roman Empire during that time.
Another prominent bearer of the name was Celes Prudentius, a 4th-century Roman Christian poet and hymn writer. His works, such as the "Psychomachia" and the "Liber Cathemerinon," had a profound influence on early Christian literature and theology.
In the Middle Ages, there was Celes of Chieti, an Italian monk who lived in the 11th century and was renowned for his piety and devotion to the monastic life. He is venerated as a saint in the Catholic Church.
During the Renaissance period, Celes Galerie, an Italian artist and sculptor, gained recognition for his work in various churches and cathedrals throughout Italy. He was born in 1492 and died in 1557.
Another notable figure was Celes Dougherty, an Irish-American labor leader and activist who played a significant role in the early 20th century labor movement in the United States. He lived from 1867 to 1928 and fought for better working conditions and fair wages for workers.
While the name Celes has its origins in ancient Roman culture, it has been adopted and adapted by various cultures throughout history, each adding their own unique interpretations and associations to this celestial name.
People
Celes + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Celes 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
Celes: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Celes?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 260 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Celes 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 1,318,286 US residents.
Is Celes a common name?
We classify Celes as "Very Rare". It ranks above 77.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 265 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Celes most popular?
The single biggest year for Celes was 2024, when 17 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Celes is about 17 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Celes in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 318 people with the name Celes, or 0.11 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #28,322 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 Celes 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 Celes?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Celes leans strongly female. 300 people counted with this name were female (94.0%), compared with 19 male bearers (6.0%). 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 Celes?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Celes is White at 38.4%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (28.0%) and Black (20.4%). 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 Celes most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Celes in the 2020 Census, accounting for 38.4% (122 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 Celes in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Celes a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Celes 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 Celes still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Celes 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 Celes 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 Americans are named Celes?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.