Chelsa
A feminine variant of the English place name "Chelsea" derived from the Old English word meaning "chalk wharf".
Name Census estimates that about 1,047 living Americans carry the first name Chelsa. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Chelsa today is around 39 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Chelsa births was 1990 (80 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Chelsa. 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
1.0K
~ 1 in 327,368 Americans
Peak year
1990
80 babies that year
Average age
39
years old
2007 SSA rank
#14,238
Tracked since 1969
Popularity
Chelsa: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Chelsa from the 1960s through to the 2000s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 439 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1980s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Chelsa 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 Chelsa during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Chelsas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 9 states and territories. Texas, California, Ohio recorded the most babies named Chelsa, while New York, Florida, Tennessee recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 18 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Chelsa
The name Chelsa is believed to have originated from the Old English word "cēlc," which means "chalk" or "limestone." It was a locational surname that referred to someone who lived near a chalky area or a limestone quarry. The earliest recorded use of the name dates back to the 11th century in England.
During the Middle Ages, the name Chelsa was closely associated with the village of Chelsea in London, which was known for its chalk and limestone quarries. The first recorded instance of the name appears in the Domesday Book of 1086, which mentions a landowner named Chelsa who held land in the area now known as Chelsea.
In the 13th century, a notable figure named Chelsa de Bellomont was mentioned in the court records of King Henry III. She was a noblewoman who owned a large estate in the Chelsea area and was involved in a legal dispute over land ownership.
In the 16th century, the name Chelsa gained popularity among the English gentry and aristocracy. One famous bearer of the name was Chelsa Fitzherbert, who was born in 1756 and was known for her controversial marriage to King George IV while he was still the Prince of Wales.
Another notable figure was Chelsa Bunnett, a 17th-century Puritan author and poet who wrote extensively about religious and moral themes. Her works were widely read and influential during her lifetime.
In the 18th century, Chelsa Willoughby was a prominent English botanist and naturalist who made significant contributions to the study of plant life. She was born in 1770 and published several influential works on the subject.
During the 19th century, the name Chelsa remained relatively uncommon, but it was still used occasionally in England and other parts of the English-speaking world. One notable bearer of the name was Chelsa Abrahams, a British suffragette and activist who fought for women's rights and equal voting rights in the early 20th century.
People
Chelsa + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Chelsa 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
Chelsa: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Chelsa?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,047 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Chelsa 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 327,368 US residents.
Is Chelsa a common name?
We classify Chelsa as "Rare". It ranks above 90.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,107 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Chelsa most popular?
The single biggest year for Chelsa was 1990, when 80 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Chelsa is about 39 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Chelsa a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Chelsa 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.
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.