Cecily
Cecily was given to 137 girls in 2025, #1,541 among girls’ names; 8,673 Americans have been recorded with it since 1911 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 7,980 Americans named Cecily and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (92% of everyone recorded); the median is 31 years old and half are between 13 and 43.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Cecily by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Cecily mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Cecily is “a female given name from Latin, from the medieval vernacular form of Cecilia.”
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Cecily?
#1,541 among girls’ names, 2025
Cecily fell from #1,176 in 2015 to #1,541 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born fell from 0.12 to 0.09 per 1,000.
472 babies in 1989, the peak
Cecily peaked in 1989, when 472 girls were given it, #498 among girls’ names. The 137 births of 2025 are 29% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 137 | #1,541 | 0.09 |
| 2024 | 131 | #1,601 | 0.08 |
| 2023 | 111 | #1,816 | 0.07 |
| 2022 | 131 | #1,615 | 0.08 |
| 2021 | 127 | #1,644 | 0.08 |
| 2020 | 131 | #1,595 | 0.08 |
| 2019 | 161 | #1,396 | 0.10 |
| 2018 | 141 | #1,544 | 0.08 |
| 2017 | 191 | #1,244 | 0.11 |
| 2016 | 196 | #1,243 | 0.11 |
Every recorded year (110)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 214 | #1,176 | 0.12 |
| 2014 | 244 | #1,061 | 0.14 |
| 2013 | 170 | #1,372 | 0.10 |
| 2012 | 114 | #1,794 | 0.06 |
| 2011 | 104 | #1,914 | 0.06 |
| 2010 | 98 | #2,031 | 0.06 |
| 2009 | 109 | #1,920 | 0.06 |
| 2008 | 112 | #1,893 | 0.06 |
| 2007 | 99 | #2,061 | 0.05 |
| 2006 | 119 | #1,744 | 0.06 |
| 2005 | 101 | #1,913 | 0.05 |
| 2004 | 88 | #2,069 | 0.05 |
| 2003 | 100 | #1,847 | 0.05 |
| 2002 | 87 | #2,003 | 0.05 |
| 2001 | 98 | #1,805 | 0.05 |
| 2000 | 96 | #1,797 | 0.05 |
| 1999 | 108 | #1,558 | 0.06 |
| 1998 | 112 | #1,508 | 0.06 |
| 1997 | 127 | #1,350 | 0.07 |
| 1996 | 132 | #1,305 | 0.08 |
| 1995 | 143 | #1,199 | 0.08 |
| 1994 | 117 | #1,390 | 0.07 |
| 1993 | 117 | #1,388 | 0.06 |
| 1992 | 134 | #1,271 | 0.07 |
| 1991 | 189 | #989 | 0.10 |
| 1990 | 403 | #574 | 0.21 |
| 1989 | 472 | #498 | 0.26 |
| 1988 | 236 | #793 | 0.13 |
| 1987 | 150 | #1,033 | 0.09 |
| 1986 | 49 | #2,148 | 0.03 |
| 1985 | 62 | #1,813 | 0.04 |
| 1984 | 58 | #1,837 | 0.03 |
| 1983 | 58 | #1,816 | 0.03 |
| 1982 | 57 | #1,878 | 0.03 |
| 1981 | 73 | #1,599 | 0.04 |
| 1980 | 73 | #1,585 | 0.04 |
| 1979 | 86 | #1,421 | 0.05 |
| 1978 | 96 | #1,277 | 0.06 |
| 1977 | 94 | #1,269 | 0.06 |
| 1976 | 81 | #1,331 | 0.06 |
| 1975 | 110 | #1,068 | 0.08 |
| 1974 | 130 | #951 | 0.09 |
| 1973 | 114 | #1,028 | 0.08 |
| 1972 | 55 | #1,632 | 0.04 |
| 1971 | 55 | #1,666 | 0.03 |
| 1970 | 61 | #1,571 | 0.03 |
| 1969 | 55 | #1,610 | 0.03 |
| 1968 | 32 | #2,131 | 0.02 |
| 1967 | 40 | #1,853 | 0.02 |
| 1966 | 44 | #1,702 | 0.03 |
| 1965 | 41 | #1,771 | 0.02 |
| 1964 | 38 | #1,921 | 0.02 |
| 1963 | 37 | #1,924 | 0.02 |
| 1962 | 36 | #1,918 | 0.02 |
| 1961 | 55 | #1,519 | 0.03 |
| 1960 | 47 | #1,639 | 0.02 |
| 1959 | 66 | #1,317 | 0.03 |
| 1958 | 41 | #1,679 | 0.02 |
| 1957 | 53 | #1,460 | 0.03 |
| 1956 | 43 | #1,617 | 0.02 |
| 1955 | 50 | #1,425 | 0.03 |
| 1954 | 51 | #1,411 | 0.03 |
| 1953 | 50 | #1,374 | 0.03 |
| 1952 | 52 | #1,336 | 0.03 |
| 1951 | 35 | #1,613 | 0.02 |
| 1950 | 42 | #1,413 | 0.02 |
| 1949 | 47 | #1,337 | 0.03 |
| 1948 | 36 | #1,550 | 0.02 |
| 1947 | 30 | #1,759 | 0.02 |
| 1946 | 35 | #1,480 | 0.02 |
| 1945 | 28 | #1,548 | 0.02 |
| 1944 | 26 | #1,614 | 0.02 |
| 1943 | 21 | #1,906 | 0.02 |
| 1942 | 41 | #1,249 | 0.03 |
| 1941 | 11 | #2,691 | 0.01 |
| 1940 | 12 | #2,444 | 0.01 |
| 1939 | 22 | #1,647 | 0.02 |
| 1938 | 20 | #1,762 | 0.02 |
| 1937 | 17 | #1,927 | 0.02 |
| 1936 | 25 | #1,485 | 0.02 |
| 1935 | 17 | #1,934 | 0.02 |
| 1934 | 17 | #1,930 | 0.02 |
| 1933 | 11 | #2,564 | 0.01 |
| 1932 | 14 | #2,255 | 0.01 |
| 1931 | 11 | #2,602 | 0.01 |
| 1930 | 14 | #2,323 | 0.01 |
| 1929 | 10 | #2,949 | 0.01 |
| 1928 | 11 | #2,793 | 0.01 |
| 1927 | 17 | #2,182 | 0.01 |
| 1926 | 13 | #2,588 | 0.01 |
| 1925 | 9 | #3,403 | 0.01 |
| 1924 | 14 | #2,538 | 0.01 |
| 1923 | 12 | #2,755 | 0.01 |
| 1922 | 13 | #2,632 | 0.01 |
| 1921 | 7 | #4,084 | 0.01 |
| 1920 | 11 | #2,928 | 0.01 |
| 1919 | 11 | #2,839 | 0.01 |
| 1917 | 10 | #2,915 | 0.01 |
| 1916 | 5 | #4,522 | under 0.01 |
| 1911 | 5 | #2,528 | 0.01 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Cecily a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Cecily has been recorded only for girls: SSA lists no boys with the name in 110 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Cecily: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Cecily, and how old are they?
7,980 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 92% of the 8,673 Americans ever recorded as Cecily. The median Cecily alive today is 31 years old; half are between 13 and 43.
The 2020 Census counted 7,194 people named Cecily (7,182 women and girls, 12 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 7,409 born in the U.S. The Census count is 3% below that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 113 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 658 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 1,090 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 2,390 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 1,650 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 2,070 |
An estimate, not a count. SSA’s files count people born in the United States who received a Social Security number, so anyone born abroad is not in them; before 1937 most people got a number as adults, and their survival is counted from that age.
Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).
Where are babies named Cecily born?
The states with the most babies named Cecily are Texas, New York and California, with 53% of its births recorded by state in 2025.
| State | Births 2025 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| Texas | 14 | #1,639 | 1.1× |
| New York | 13 | #1,099 | 0.8× |
| California | 12 | #1,762 | 1.0× |
| Pennsylvania | 10 | #879 | 0.6× |
| Illinois | 8 | #1,040 | 0.7× |
| Ohio | 7 | #1,167 | 0.5× |
| Florida | 5 | #2,226 | 0.4× |
| Arizona | 5 | #1,076 | 0.2× |
Where Cecily is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Cecily is most over-represented in Texas: since 1911 it was given 1.1 times as often there as its national share each year would predict.
States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among girls’ names in the state in 2025. The file leaves out any state and year with fewer than 5 babies of the name, so small states are undercounted; each ratio compares the state’s births of Cecily with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names spelled alike
Of these 8 names spelled alike, given to 148,788 babies since 1880, Cecily is the third most given (5.8% of them). In 2025 it was given to 137 of their 2,867 babies (4.8%), again the third most given.
Spelled alike: names in the SSA national file with the same pattern of letters and sounds and at most two letters apart, and Wiktionary’s listed forms; births since 1880 and in 2025, and each name’s peak year, from the SSA national file, published May 8, 2026. Some are separate names, not spellings of one.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Cecily
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
More about Cecily and names like it
- Compare Cecily and CeciliaBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1980sCecily peaked in 1989.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Cecily since 1910.
- The top names of 1989The year the most babies were named Cecily.
- The names of the MillennialsMost people named Cecily alive today were born 1981-1996.
- Names starting with CMost given first.