Celine
A feminine name of French origin meaning "heavenly" or "celestial".
Name Census estimates that about 15,742 living Americans carry the first name Celine. It sits at #227 in the overall ranking, outside the top 50 but still well-represented. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Celine today is around 19 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Celine births was 2024 (1,347 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Celine. 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 Celine with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
16K
~ 1 in 21,773 Americans
Peak year
2024
1,347 babies that year
Average age
19
years old
2024 SSA rank
#227
Tracked since 1893
Census
Celine in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 13,030 people with the first name Celine, which placed it at #2,081 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
#2,081
National first-name rank
People counted
13K
13,030 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
4.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
42.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Celine
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Celine is White at 42.7%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (22.1%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (20.5%). 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 Celine 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 Celine at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White42.7% · 5,565
- Hispanic or Latino22.1% · 2,876
- Asian and Pacific Islander20.5% · 2,667
- Black or African American9.6% · 1,257
- Two or more races4.7% · 612
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.4% · 53
Popularity
Celine: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Celine from the 1890s through to the 2020s, spanning 14 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2020s, with 4,793 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Celine 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 Celine during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Celines live
The SSA's state-level files cover 42 states and territories. California, New York, Texas recorded the most babies named Celine, while New Hampshire, Mississippi, Arkansas recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 322 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Celine
The name Celine has its origins in the Latin language, stemming from the word "caelestis," which means "heavenly" or "celestial." It gained popularity during the early days of Christianity and was often associated with religious figures or saints.
The earliest recorded use of the name Celine can be traced back to the 5th century, when a young woman named Celine lived in the region of Gaul (modern-day France). She was known for her piety and charitable works, and was later canonized as Saint Celine.
In the 6th century, a nun named Celine de Laon lived in northern France and founded a convent dedicated to the Virgin Mary. Her life and teachings were widely revered, and her name became associated with religious devotion and service.
During the Middle Ages, the name Celine gained further prominence in France and other parts of Europe. It was often bestowed upon daughters of noble families, signifying their connection to the heavens and divine grace.
One of the most notable historical figures named Celine was Celine Binet (1838-1924), a French writer and feminist activist. She was a prolific author and advocated for women's rights and education.
Another prominent bearer of the name was Celine Navarro (1900-1949), a French singer and actress who rose to fame during the early 20th century. She was celebrated for her performances in operettas and films.
In the literary world, Celine Arnauld (1624-1694) was a French writer and philosopher who contributed to the development of rationalist thought and Cartesian philosophy.
Celine Dion (born 1968) is perhaps the most famous modern-day bearer of the name. The Canadian singer and songwriter has achieved global recognition for her powerful vocals and chart-topping hits.
While the name Celine has seen various spellings and forms throughout history, such as Celina, Selina, and Caelina, its celestial roots and associations with religious devotion and grace have remained a consistent theme.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Celine
People
Celine + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Celine 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
Celine: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Celine?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 15,742 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Celine 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 21,773 US residents.
Is Celine a common name?
We classify Celine as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 17,052 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Celine most popular?
The single biggest year for Celine was 2024, when 1,347 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Celine is about 19 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Celine in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 13,030 people with the name Celine, or 4.31 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #2,081 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 Celine 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 Celine?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Celine appears almost entirely female. Of the 13,037 people counted with this name, 99.8% 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 Celine?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Celine is White at 42.7%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (22.1%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (20.5%). 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 Celine most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Celine in the 2020 Census, accounting for 42.7% (5,565 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 Celine in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Celine a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Celine 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 Celine still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Celine 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 Celine 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 have the name Celine?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.