Celise
A feminine name derived from the Greek word "kaleō" meaning "to call".
Name Census estimates that about 191 living Americans carry the first name Celise. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Celise today is around 21 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Celise births was 2012 (11 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Celise. 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 Celise with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
191
~ 1 in 1,794,525 Americans
Peak year
2012
11 babies that year
Average age
21
years old
2024 SSA rank
#9,032
Tracked since 1962
Census
Celise in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 259 people with the first name Celise, which placed it at #32,463 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
#32,463
National first-name rank
People counted
259
259 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
45.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Celise
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Celise is White at 45.2%. The next largest groups are Black (25.9%) and Hispanic (18.9%). 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 Celise 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 Celise at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White45.2% · 117
- Black or African American25.9% · 67
- Hispanic or Latino18.9% · 49
- Two or more races5.8% · 15
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.7% · 7
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.5% · 4
Popularity
Celise: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Celise 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 57 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Celise remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Celise 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 Celise 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 Celise
The given name Celise has its origins in the ancient Greek language. It is derived from the Greek word "kelis," which means "beautiful" or "lovely." The name is believed to have first emerged during the Classical period of ancient Greece, which spanned from the 5th century BCE to the 4th century BCE.
Celise was a relatively uncommon name in ancient Greece, but it can be found in some historical records and literary works from that era. One notable mention is in Plutarch's "Parallel Lives," a series of biographies of famous Greeks and Romans written in the late 1st century CE. In this work, Plutarch makes reference to a woman named Celise, though little else is known about her.
The name Celise also appears to have been used in other parts of the ancient Mediterranean world, including in the Roman Empire. A Roman woman named Celise is mentioned in an inscription found in the ruins of Pompeii, which was destroyed by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 CE.
During the Middle Ages, the name Celise fell into relative obscurity in Europe, likely due to the rise of Christianity and the popularity of Biblical names. However, it experienced a modest revival during the Renaissance period, when there was a renewed interest in classical Greek and Roman culture.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Celise in the Renaissance era is Celise Armine, an Italian poet and writer who lived in the late 15th century. Another notable figure was Celise de Montpellier, a French noblewoman and patron of the arts who lived in the 16th century.
In the 17th century, Celise Renouard, a French philosopher and writer, gained recognition for her works on ethics and morality. A century later, Celise Delambre, a French astronomer and mathematician, made significant contributions to the field of celestial mechanics.
In the 19th century, Celise Vigny, a French novelist and poet, achieved literary acclaim for her works exploring themes of love and human nature.
While not an exhaustive list, these examples illustrate the historical use of the name Celise across various cultures and time periods, primarily in Europe. Despite its ancient roots, the name has remained relatively uncommon throughout history.
People
Celise + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Celise 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
Celise: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Celise?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 191 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Celise 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 1,794,525 US residents.
Is Celise a common name?
We classify Celise as "Very Rare". It ranks above 73.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 196 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Celise most popular?
The single biggest year for Celise was 2012, when 11 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Celise is about 21 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Celise in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 259 people with the name Celise, or 0.09 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #32,463 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 Celise 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 Celise?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Celise appears almost entirely female. Of the 257 people counted with this name, 99.6% 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 Celise?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Celise is White at 45.2%. The next largest groups are Black (25.9%) and Hispanic (18.9%). 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 Celise most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Celise in the 2020 Census, accounting for 45.2% (117 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 Celise in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Celise a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Celise 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 Celise still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Celise 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 Celise 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 common is the name Celise?
See how many Americans are named Celise on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.