Chelsia
The feminine diminutive version of Chelsea, originating from old English "chalc hyr" meaning chalk harbor.
Name Census estimates that about 370 living Americans carry the first name Chelsia. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Chelsia today is around 34 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Chelsia births was 1992 (41 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Chelsia. 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
370
~ 1 in 926,363 Americans
Peak year
1992
41 babies that year
Average age
34
years old
2009 SSA rank
#12,682
Tracked since 1969
Census
Chelsia in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 406 people with the first name Chelsia, which placed it at #23,937 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
#23,937
National first-name rank
People counted
406
406 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
41.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Chelsia
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Chelsia is White at 41.9%. The next largest groups are Black (35.5%) and Hispanic (9.6%). 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 Chelsia 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 Chelsia at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White41.9% · 170
- Black or African American35.5% · 144
- Hispanic or Latino9.6% · 39
- Asian and Pacific Islander6.9% · 28
- Two or more races5.2% · 21
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.0% · 4
Popularity
Chelsia: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Chelsia from the 1960s through to the 2000s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 181 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1990s peak, Chelsia remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Chelsia 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 Chelsia during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Chelsias live
Origin
Meaning and history of Chelsia
The name Chelsia is believed to have originated from the Old English word "celestig," which means "chalice" or "cup." This name gained popularity during the medieval period in England and was often associated with religious symbolism.
In the 12th century, the name Chelsia was mentioned in the chronicles of the Benedictine monk, Geoffrey of Monmouth, who documented the history of Britain. It is said that Chelsia was the name of a noble lady who resided in the court of King Arthur. However, the historical accuracy of this account is debated by scholars.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Chelsia can be found in the Domesday Book, a comprehensive survey of landowners in England commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1086. The name Chelsia was listed among the tenants of the Manor of Chelsey, which is now part of the borough of Kensington and Chelsea in London.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Chelsia. One such figure was Chelsia of Anjou (1109-1171), a French noblewoman who married Geoffrey Plantagenet, the Count of Anjou, and became the mother of King Henry II of England.
Another prominent figure was Chelsia de Valois (1301-1368), a French princess who married King Edward III of England and played a significant role in the negotiations that led to the Treaty of Brétigny during the Hundred Years' War.
In the realm of literature, Chelsia Browning (1806-1861) was an English poet and playwright, best known for her dramatic works such as "The Barons' Wars" and "The Prometheus Bound." She was also a prominent figure in the literary circles of Victorian England.
The name Chelsia also has religious connotations. Saint Chelsia of Reims (c. 495-576) was a Frankish abbess and the founder of the Abbey of Notre-Dame de Soissons in France. She is venerated as a saint in the Roman Catholic Church, and her feast day is celebrated on October 16th.
Another notable figure was Chelsia of York (1470-1528), an English nun who became the last Prioress of the Benedictine Convent of Clementhorpe in York. She played a crucial role in preserving the convent's records and manuscripts during the Dissolution of the Monasteries under King Henry VIII.
People
Chelsia + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Chelsia 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
Chelsia: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Chelsia?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 370 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Chelsia 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 926,363 US residents.
Is Chelsia a common name?
We classify Chelsia as "Very Rare". It ranks above 81.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 386 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Chelsia most popular?
The single biggest year for Chelsia was 1992, when 41 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Chelsia is about 34 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Chelsia in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 406 people with the name Chelsia, or 0.13 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #23,937 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 Chelsia 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 Chelsia?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Chelsia leans strongly female. 390 people counted with this name were female (97.5%), compared with 10 male bearers (2.5%). 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 Chelsia?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Chelsia is White at 41.9%. The next largest groups are Black (35.5%) and Hispanic (9.6%). 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 Chelsia most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Chelsia in the 2020 Census, accounting for 41.9% (170 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 Chelsia in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Chelsia a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Chelsia 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 Chelsia still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Chelsia 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 Chelsia 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 are called Chelsia?
Find out how many people have the name Chelsia on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.