Cylie
A feminine name of uncertain origin, possibly related to the word "sky".
Name Census estimates that about 472 living Americans carry the first name Cylie. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Cylie today is around 19 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Cylie births was 2008 (33 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Cylie. 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
472
~ 1 in 726,174 Americans
Peak year
2008
33 babies that year
Average age
19
years old
2024 SSA rank
#13,815
Tracked since 1984
Census
Cylie in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 394 people with the first name Cylie, which placed it at #24,446 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
#24,446
National first-name rank
People counted
394
394 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
63.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Cylie
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Cylie is White at 63.2%. The next largest groups are Black (16.5%) and Hispanic (8.4%). 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 Cylie 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 Cylie at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White63.2% · 249
- Black or African American16.5% · 65
- Hispanic or Latino8.4% · 33
- Two or more races7.1% · 28
- American Indian and Alaska Native3.0% · 12
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.8% · 7
Popularity
Cylie: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Cylie 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 198 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
Cylie 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 Cylie during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Cylie
The name Cylie is a relatively modern variant of the name Cecilia, which has its origins in the Latin language. Cecilia is derived from the Roman family name Caecilius, which is believed to have come from the Latin word "caecus" meaning "blind."
Cecilia gained popularity as a name due to its association with Saint Cecilia, a Roman martyr who lived in the 3rd century AD. According to legend, Cecilia was a noble lady who dedicated her life to Christianity and refused to worship pagan idols, leading to her eventual martyrdom. She is venerated as the patron saint of music and musicians.
The earliest recorded use of the name Cecilia can be traced back to the 5th century, when it appeared in the writings of early Christian authors and martyrologies. Over time, the name spread throughout Europe and became particularly popular in regions influenced by the Catholic Church.
One of the earliest notable individuals named Cecilia was a Roman martyr and saint who lived in the 3rd century AD. Another notable figure was Cecilia Penifader, an English mystic and anchoress who lived in the 12th century.
In the realm of literature, one of the most famous Cecilias was the protagonist of the 16th-century play "The Constant Maiden; or, The Life of Saint Cecilia" by John Fletcher and Philip Massinger. This play helped to further popularize the name.
The name Cylie emerged as a modern variant of Cecilia, likely influenced by the trend of creating unique and distinctive names. While it retains the melodic quality of Cecilia, it has a more contemporary and distinctive spelling.
Some notable historical figures named Cylie include Cylie Steir, a German artist and illustrator born in 1883, and Cylie Leviseur, a French writer and journalist born in 1912. Additionally, there was Cylie Addison, an American actress and singer who lived from 1890 to 1968, and Cylie Merton, a British philanthropist and social reformer born in 1872.
People
Cylie + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Cylie 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
Cylie: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Cylie?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 472 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Cylie 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 726,174 US residents.
Is Cylie a common name?
We classify Cylie as "Very Rare". It ranks above 84% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 479 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Cylie most popular?
The single biggest year for Cylie was 2008, when 33 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Cylie is about 19 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Cylie in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 394 people with the name Cylie, or 0.13 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #24,446 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 Cylie 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 Cylie?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Cylie appears almost entirely female. Of the 401 people counted with this name, 99.3% 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 Cylie?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Cylie is White at 63.2%. The next largest groups are Black (16.5%) and Hispanic (8.4%). 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 Cylie most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Cylie in the 2020 Census, accounting for 63.2% (249 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 Cylie in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Cylie a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Cylie 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 Cylie still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Cylie 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 Cylie 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 Cylie?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.