Cylee
A feminine name of Welsh origin meaning "pathway" or "wandering".
Name Census estimates that about 401 living Americans carry the first name Cylee. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Cylee today is around 17 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Cylee births was 2007 (28 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Cylee. 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
401
~ 1 in 854,749 Americans
Peak year
2007
28 babies that year
Average age
17
years old
2024 SSA rank
#13,813
Tracked since 1989
Census
Cylee in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 356 people with the first name Cylee, which placed it at #26,232 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
#26,232
National first-name rank
People counted
356
356 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
69.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Cylee
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Cylee is White at 69.4%. The next largest groups are Black (13.8%) and Hispanic (8.1%). 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 Cylee 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 Cylee at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White69.4% · 247
- Black or African American13.8% · 49
- Hispanic or Latino8.1% · 29
- Two or more races5.3% · 19
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.2% · 8
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.1% · 4
Popularity
Cylee: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Cylee from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 179 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Cylee 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 Cylee during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Cylees live
Origin
Meaning and history of Cylee
The given name Cylee has its origins in ancient Mesopotamia, specifically in the Sumerian and Akkadian civilizations that flourished in the region between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers around 3500-2000 BCE. It is derived from the Akkadian word "silu," which means "protection" or "shelter."
One of the earliest known references to the name Cylee can be found in the Epic of Gilgamesh, one of the earliest surviving works of literature, dating back to around 2100 BCE. In this epic poem, Cylee is mentioned as the name of a minor deity associated with protecting households and families.
During the reign of the Babylonian king Hammurabi (1792-1750 BCE), there are records of individuals bearing the name Cylee in cuneiform inscriptions. One notable example is Cylee of Ur, a prominent merchant and landowner who lived during this period.
In ancient Greece, there are accounts of a woman named Cylee who was a priestess in the temple of Artemis in Ephesus during the 5th century BCE. She is believed to have been influential in promoting the worship of the goddess Artemis, who was associated with protecting women and childbirth.
In the Middle Ages, there are records of a Cylee who was a nun in a Benedictine monastery in what is now southern France. She is believed to have lived in the 9th century CE and is known for her dedication to helping the poor and destitute in the surrounding areas.
During the Renaissance, a woman named Cylee Visconti (1370-1424) was a prominent figure in the court of Milan, Italy. She was known for her patronage of the arts and her support for artists and scholars of the time.
Another notable individual with the name Cylee was Cylee Sedgwick (1789-1867), an American educator and writer who was a pioneer in promoting women's education and advocating for the abolition of slavery in the United States.
These are just a few examples of individuals throughout history who bore the given name Cylee, a name with roots that can be traced back to ancient civilizations in the Middle East and a meaning that has long been associated with protection and shelter.
People
Cylee + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Cylee 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
Cylee: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Cylee?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 401 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Cylee 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 854,749 US residents.
Is Cylee a common name?
We classify Cylee as "Very Rare". It ranks above 82.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 406 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Cylee most popular?
The single biggest year for Cylee was 2007, when 28 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Cylee is about 17 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Cylee in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 356 people with the name Cylee, or 0.12 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #26,232 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 Cylee 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 Cylee?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Cylee leans strongly female. 343 people counted with this name were female (97.2%), compared with 10 male bearers (2.8%). 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 Cylee?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Cylee is White at 69.4%. The next largest groups are Black (13.8%) and Hispanic (8.1%). 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 Cylee most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Cylee in the 2020 Census, accounting for 69.4% (247 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 Cylee in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Cylee a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Cylee 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 Cylee still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Cylee 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 Cylee 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 Cylee?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.