Chelsea
Old English place name meaning "chalk landing place".
Name Census estimates that about 156,901 living Americans carry the first name Chelsea. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Chelsea today is around 32 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Chelsea births was 1992 (16,199 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Chelsea. 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 Chelsea with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Chelsea is used almost entirely for girls, the SSA data does show 451 boys registered with the name since 1880.
- • Compared to the 1990s, recent registration numbers for Chelsea have dropped to less than 5% of what they once were.
People living today
157K
~ 1 in 2,185 Americans
Peak year
1992
16,199 babies that year
Average age
32
years old
2018 SSA rank
#784
Tracked since 1910
Census
Chelsea in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 143,412 people with the first name Chelsea, which placed it at #395 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
#395
National first-name rank
People counted
143K
143,412 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
47.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
72.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Chelsea
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Chelsea is White at 72.2%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (10.2%) and Black (9.2%). 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 Chelsea 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 Chelsea at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White72.2% · 103,605
- Hispanic or Latino10.2% · 14,668
- Black or African American9.2% · 13,222
- Two or more races4.6% · 6,612
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.9% · 4,102
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.8% · 1,203
Gender
Gender distribution for Chelsea
Out of the 163,013 babies given the name Chelsea since 1880, 99.7% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Chelsea as a male name
- Ranked #12,510 in 2018
- 5 male births in 2018
- Peak: 1989 (49 births)
Chelsea as a female name
- Ranked #784 in 2024
- 358 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1992 (16,177 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Chelsea appears almost entirely female. Of the 143,411 people counted with this name, 99.8% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Chelsea: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Chelsea from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 84,968 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1990s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Chelsea 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 Chelsea during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Chelseas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. California, Texas, New York recorded the most babies named Chelsea, while Wyoming, District of Columbia, North Dakota recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 3,156 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Chelsea
The name Chelsea has its origins in the Old English language and is derived from the place name "Chelcith," which means "chalk landing place." This place name referred to the area now known as Chelsea in London, England, which was first recorded in the late 11th century.
Chelsea as a given name emerged in the 19th century, likely inspired by the affluent London district of the same name. The name gained popularity as a feminine name in the English-speaking world, although its original meaning was gender-neutral.
One of the earliest recorded uses of Chelsea as a given name was in 1843, when Chelsea Calhoun was born in Mississippi, United States. She was the daughter of John C. Calhoun, a prominent American statesman and political theorist.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals named Chelsea. One of the most famous was Chelsea Clinton, born in 1980, the daughter of former U.S. President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
Another notable Chelsea was Chelsea Manning, born in 1987, a former United States Army soldier who was convicted of leaking classified documents to WikiLeaks. Manning's actions sparked debates about government transparency and national security.
In literature, Chelsea Therezina Edgardo Coolidge was a character in the novel "The Ambassadors" by Henry James, published in 1903. This Chelsea was depicted as a young American woman living in Paris.
Chelsea Brown, born in 1975, is a Canadian actress and model known for her roles in films such as "Hairspray" and "Reign Over Me." She has also appeared in numerous television shows and commercials.
Chelsea Handler, born in 1975, is an American comedian, actress, writer, television host, and producer. She is best known for her talk shows "Chelsea Lately" and "Chelsea."
While the name Chelsea has its roots in Old English and was initially associated with a specific location, it has evolved over time to become a popular given name for individuals around the world, particularly in English-speaking countries.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Chelsea
People
Chelsea + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Chelsea 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
Chelsea: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Chelsea?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 156,901 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Chelsea 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 2,185 US residents.
Is Chelsea a common name?
We classify Chelsea as "Common". It ranks above 99.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 163,013 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Chelsea most popular?
The single biggest year for Chelsea was 1992, when 16,199 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Chelsea is about 32 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Chelsea in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 143,412 people with the name Chelsea, or 47.48 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #395 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 Chelsea 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 Chelsea?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Chelsea appears almost entirely female. Of the 143,411 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 Chelsea?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Chelsea is White at 72.2%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (10.2%) and Black (9.2%). 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 Chelsea most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Chelsea in the 2020 Census, accounting for 72.2% (103,605 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 Chelsea in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Chelsea a female name?
Yes, 99.7% of people registered as Chelsea 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 Chelsea still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Chelsea 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 Chelsea 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 Chelsea?
See how many people have the name Chelsea on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.