Ciel
A French name meaning "sky" or "heaven".
Name Census estimates that about 658 living Americans carry the first name Ciel. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 56.0% of registrations being female. The average person named Ciel today is around 10 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Ciel births was 2023 (54 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Ciel. 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 Ciel with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
658
~ 1 in 520,903 Americans
Peak year
2023
54 babies that year
Average age
10
years old
2024 SSA rank
#3,991
Tracked since 1999
Census
Ciel in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 488 people with the first name Ciel, which placed it at #20,967 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
#20,967
National first-name rank
People counted
488
488 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
39.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Ciel
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ciel is White at 39.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (31.1%) and Two or More Races (10.9%). 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 Ciel 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 Ciel at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White39.3% · 192
- Hispanic or Latino31.1% · 152
- Two or more races10.9% · 53
- Asian and Pacific Islander9.6% · 47
- Black or African American8.8% · 43
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.2% · 1
Gender
Gender distribution for Ciel
Ciel is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 663 total registrations, 292 (44.0%) were male and 371 (56.0%) were female.
Ciel as a male name
- Ranked #3,991 in 2024
- 27 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2021 (32 births)
Ciel as a female name
- Ranked #4,902 in 2024
- 27 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2024 (27 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Ciel on both sides of the split. Of the 489 people counted with this name, 174 were male (35.6%) and 315 were female (64.4%).
Popularity
Ciel: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Ciel from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 330 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Ciel remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Ciel 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 Ciel during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Ciels live
The SSA's state-level files cover 4 states and territories. California, Texas, Florida recorded the most babies named Ciel, while New York, Florida, Texas recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 29 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Ciel
The name Ciel has its origins in the French language, derived from the word "ciel" which means "sky" or "heaven." It is a unisex name, though more commonly used for girls.
The name can be traced back to the Middle Ages in France, where it was likely used as a descriptive name or nickname for someone with blue eyes or a celestial-like appearance. The earliest recorded use of the name dates back to the 13th century.
In French literature, the name Ciel appears in various works, including the famous novel "Les Misérables" by Victor Hugo, where it is the name of a character. The name also holds significance in French religious contexts, as it evokes the heavenly realm.
One notable historical figure named Ciel was Ciel Bergman (1938-2018), a Swedish actress and singer known for her roles in Swedish films and television series. Another was Ciel Boucher (1915-1992), a Canadian sculptor and artist whose works were exhibited in various galleries and museums.
In the world of music, Ciel Sylvant (born 1957) is a French singer and songwriter who rose to prominence in the 1980s with her pop and rock songs. Ciel Rodrigue (1939-2021) was a Canadian singer and actress, best known for her work in the Quebec entertainment industry.
Ciel Sauvageau (1902-1978) was a Canadian lawyer and politician who served as a member of the House of Commons of Canada from 1945 to 1958, representing the district of Gatineau.
While the name Ciel is not as common as some other French names, it has maintained a presence throughout history, often associated with artistic, literary, and religious contexts, reflecting its celestial and heavenly connotations.
People
Ciel + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Ciel 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
Ciel: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Ciel?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 658 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Ciel 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 520,903 US residents.
Is Ciel a common name?
We classify Ciel as "Very Rare". It ranks above 87.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 663 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Ciel most popular?
The single biggest year for Ciel was 2023, when 54 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Ciel is about 10 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Ciel in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 488 people with the name Ciel, or 0.16 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #20,967 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 Ciel 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 Ciel?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Ciel on both sides of the split. Of the 489 people counted with this name, 174 were male (35.6%) and 315 were female (64.4%). 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 Ciel?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ciel is White at 39.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (31.1%) and Two or More Races (10.9%). 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 Ciel most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Ciel in the 2020 Census, accounting for 39.3% (192 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 Ciel in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Ciel a female name?
Yes, 56.0% of people registered as Ciel 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 Ciel still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Ciel 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 Ciel 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 Americans are named Ciel?
See how many people share the name Ciel on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.