The baby name Cecily combines medieval roots with an enduring sound.
Thanks to Lola and Jennifer for suggesting our Baby Name of the Day.
FROM ROME to ENGLAND
The baby name Cecily comes from the Roman Caecilius, which means blind.
A handful of famous ancient figures have worn the name, including Lucius Caecilius Iucundus. Iucundus worked as a banker and lived in Pompeii. Part of his house still stands among the ruins. A character based on Caecilius is used for a famous series of Latin textbooks; fans of Doctor Who might also recognize the name.
As a given name, Caecilius survives mostly as Cecilia today. Credit to Saint Cecilia. Around the year 300, legend tells, the noblewoman Cecilia died a martyr for her faith. As she died, she sang out to praise God – making her the patron saint of musicians.
Cecilia remained popular across the centuries. The saint is mentioned by name in the Canon of the Mass, meaning this name was heard across time and place.
During the Middle Ages, English given names often ended with -y, at least in everyday use. Another famous example: Margaret became Margery.
And so Cecily arrived in medieval England, and was even used by the royal family.
- In the 1400s, Cecily Neville was Duchess of York and mother of two future kings of England: Edward IV and Richard III. (Her signature suggests that she spelled her name Cecylle.)
- King Edward IV named one of his daughters Cecily in honor of his mother.
- There;s also Cecily Bonville, a baroness and heiress in fifteenth century England.
- Cecily Bodenham served as Abbess of Wilton until Henry VIII’s dissolution of the monasteries.
EMILY, NATALIE, DESTINY, MACKENZIE
From the Middle Ages to today, we’ve often embraced three-syllable, ends-with-Y names for our daughters.
There’s classic Emily, of course, as well as:
- 20th century staples like Natalie, Kimberly, and Valerie
- Vintage darlings like Rosalie
- Modern noun names like Destiny and Melody
- Stylish surname choices like Mackenzie
The current US Top 100 includes Avery, Everly, Emery, and Kennedy, as well as Leilani – one of several Hawaiian-inspired choices rising in use.
Cecily would fit right in.
HOW POPULAR IS THE NAME CECILY?
Despite Cecily’s style match, the name remains quite rare.
The baby name Cecily appeared in the US Top 1000 in 1974, and again from 1988 to 1991. But as of 2023, it was given to just 110 girls. That’s well outside of the current rankings, and surprisingly rare.
As for spelling Cicely? As of 2023, just eight girls received the name.
Instead, it’s Cecilia that has ranked in the US Top 200 since 2015, and continues to gain in use.
FAMOUS USES of CECILY: PLACE NAME, CHARACTER, and MORE
Despite the name’s sparing use, it’s possible to think of several high profile uses of Cecily.
- Cecily Cardew is one of the characters in Oscar Wilde’s enduring work, The Importance of Being Earnest.
- Nineteenth century writer and suffragist Cecily Hamilton is remembered for penning the lyrics to the “The March of the Women.”
- World War II heroine Cecily Lefort, who was part of sabotage efforts in occupied France.
It was a Cicely, though, that sent the baby name Cecily into the US Top 1000 for the first time.
CICELY TYSON
Born in New York City, Cicely Tyson started out as a model before acting in a few small movie roles, as well as on soap opera The Guiding Light. By 1972, Tyson was a major star, thanks to her Academy Award-nominated role in Sounder. She’d earn an Emmy as the star of The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman, the story of a former slave who lived to see the Civil Rights Movement.
No surprise that her name spiked in use, both the spelling she preferred – Cicely – as well as Cecily.
What explains the second bump for the baby name Cecily, in the late 1980s?
Hit television series Northern Exposure took place in the fictional town of Cicely, Alaska … but the show debuted in 1990, and Cecily started a rapid rise in 1987.
This time, credit goes to a soap opera. All My Children introduced Cecily in 1987, a troubled teen with a trust fund.
There’s also 84 Charing Cross Road, the movie version of a stage play based on a 1970 memoir. The cast was a who’s who of British film: Judi Dench, Anthony Hopkins. And the 1987 movie, as well as the memoir, still has its fans.
But that spike in use? That’s down to Cecily Davidson Brent of Pine Valley, and all the drama, romance, and intrigue the soap opera character endured.
GOSSIP GIRL
Parents now likely have a different reference point for the baby name Cecily.
Cecily von Ziegesar created Gossip Girl, a book series that became a wildly successful teen drama from 1997 to 2002. It also helped launch the careers of Penn Badgley and Blake Lively. Another series set in the same universe ran on HBO Max from 2021 to 2023.
The author based the story on her own experiences at the exclusive New York City Nightingale-Bamford School, the inspiration for Constance Billiard School for Girls.
While the author isn’t nearly as well-known as her characters, her given name has the same vaguely European, upper crust energy.
OLD-FASHIONED CHARM
The baby name Cecily could fit with other aristocratic picks. Think Cosima or Georgina.
But in the US, it reads a little more old-fashioned charm. Cecily is a successor to Emily, Abigail, and Hannah. The name is pretty and prim, a lady-like choice less expected than Charlotte, as traditional as Eleanor.
Given the rise of Cecilia, it’s possible Cecily could follow.
Nickname options Cece – or Ceci – transforms delicate Cecily into a high-energy, spirited choice, combining the best of both styles into one graceful, surprisingly underused name.
What do you think of the baby name Cecily?
Originally published on October 25, 2008 and substantially revised on November 5, 2012 and again on August 13, 2024.
Ooh.. I adore Cecily.. she’s so pretty, yet retains more spunk than Cecilia, IMO.
Despite a neice named Cecelia, Cecily remains in a pretty high spot on my list, featuring in my current top 3 combos: Beatrix Cecily Jane.
LOVE Cecilia/Cecelia, but i am not too sure about Cecily.
Love Cecily! It’s an Alice in Wonderland type name to me. Eternally youthful, sort of, but not out of place on a grown woman. I prefer Cecilia because it’s easier to match and more directly honors a Cecilia, but Cecily overtakes it sometimes.
Thanks for the suggestions Lola, I’m inclined to find Annette the most appealing of those suggestions too, it sounds a lot less dated than it might of even five years ago.
Another, I know exactly what you mean and have this problem with quite a few names. Let me explain, I like Cecily simply for its own sake, without any attempt at trying to impress anyone or trying to be different, I simply adore underused- fresh-sounding yet historical appellations.
However, I am quite aware that she could sound a bit on the pretentious side. In the UK, Sloanes of my age (The UK equivalent of the Preppies) sport names like Henrietta (Hen), Camilla (Mills or Millie), Clementine (Clemmie), Arabella/Annabelle (Bella), Imogen (Immy), Victoria (Vicks or Tor), Philippa (Pippa), Isabella (Issy), Olivia (Livs or Livvy) and Matilda (Tilly, Tills). And as a result, many of these names have a social cache attached to them (Henrietta, Camilla & Arabella for example). Although it must be noted that some have become increasingly mainstream in the last few years (think: Olivia, Isabella and latterly, Matilda).
If you take a peak at the Telegraph or Times birth annoucements (a great barometer of these things) you will notice a smattering of these names plus some new ones of which Cecily is one such. It’s impossible to tell which of these names will remain very ‘elite-sounding’ as time passes and which will become more mainstream; but I don’t actually think it really matters. Some of these names might sound a trifle pretentious but almost without exception – all are attractive, historic names that will stand the test of time.
This is one of those names that makes me roll my eyes. I think it’s extremely pretentious! To me it sounds like the type of name someone might pick if they were trying to impress someone, or if they were trying to be classy (a word I can not stand). I don’t like it. I don’t like Cicely, either, although it doesn’t strike that same chord of pretentious-name-choosery – I just don’t like the sound of Cicely. Oh well, I guess I can’t love them all!
Kate, Jeanette, Lyonette, Garnet, Annette/Nanette and if you don’t mind a modern spin with a throwback nickname: Monet might work too. (it’s a stretch, yes, but definitely doable). Are on my lists, somewhere. Personally, I’m finding Annette rather attractive again. And the connection to the courageous & lovely Ms. Funicello can’t be beat!
and thanks! Emmy Jo, I appreciate the back up. 🙂 Nice to hear my instincts are right on.
I love Cecily! One of my baby name oddities: while I generally dislike two-syllable names that end in the “ee” sound, I’m all for three-syllable “ee” names, especially the less common ones (such as Cecily, Rosalie, Elodie, and, yes, Emily, if it weren’t so common). Cecily definitely has a spunky, peppy, modern feel despite its solid history. And, Lola, Josephine and Cecily sound darling on sisters. Cecily is definitely strong enough to stand up to Josephine.
I was thinking earlier about Celeste and have come to the conclusion that my dislike of her has more to do with her lispy sound and the fact that, said quickly – she sounds like cess (as in pit or pool) than the factors I listed earlier. To cut a long story short, my thoughts then coincidentally drifted to Cecily. By rights, I should dislike her for the same reasons but I don’t. This puzzles me, if I’m put off of Celeste because of her sound then I should be put off Cecily for the same reason, no? But somehow, my liking of Cecily transcends this, it even transcends my vague dislike of her meaning and even vaguer concern regarding her pronouciation. All in all, Cecily sounds slender, aristocratic, artsy and enchanting.
On a different tact, Lola mentioned Nettie – I love this wicked nickname but could anyone offer any suggestions as to what it might be a valid nickname for? Ps. I’ve already thoguth fd Annette, Antoinette, Lynette… Thanks!
Thanks Verity! Cecily is, ATM, our #1 name. She’s a bit more mainstream than Ottilie/Ottoline (which remains in #2) and honors my Grandmother Cecylia. (I was 7 before I realised that’s not how Cecilia was spelled in America!) I already have three cousins named Cecilia to honor that Grandmother (funnily enough, the three of them are half cousins, the Grandmother they’re named for was the second marriage one, their grandmother was Catherine!). So I thought Cecily would work better and still stand out in the family. (Cecily Frances Rupinder [for Babci, Mom and one of his cousins] or Cecily Pandora Jane [Babci, his mother and my mom’s middle]) Can’t decide which I like best, although I lean towards honoring my long gone mother over his, who’s still here). I find Cecily, light, pretty and still stern enough to suit me. I’d probably end up nicknaming her Celie (like in “The Color Purple”, where I’m also fond of Nettie, Millie & Harpo [yeah, I’m a Marx bros. fan too]) Cece’s a slight possibility as is simply Celia. I also like that she’s three syllables, so sits with Josephine rather well without rhyming or otherwise detracting. I also dig that Cecily feels familiar but isn’t on the charts, so she’s likely to stand out a fair bit!
Cicely is an herb to me, otherwise known as Chervil. While I like a lot of foods as names (Clementine, Plum, Mirabel & Honey all reside on my lists) but Cicely feels overly fluffy and really doesn’t sit well with me. Funny that you mentioned Margery, I have a cousin with that name as well and it’s long been my favored form of Margaret for her medieval & nursery rhyme feel. I could still nickname her Daisy (which beats what the cousin got stuck with: Margie).
I had a faint idea that Cecily was medieval herself but really hadn’t done any digging in that respect, thanks so much for doing it for me! I’ve been collecting medieval monikers for a few years, but the girls side has been rather limited compared to the boys.
I really think she’s staying on top. While I love the storybook feel of Ottoline/Ottilie, Cecily woeks more directly for honoring and feels a bit less “far out”.
Thanks again!
I love Cecilia because of the Simon & Garfunkel and would call her Cecily without a doubt. Cecile is irritating sounding, but Cecily is so wonderful-sounding!
Cicely looks like a misspelling to me, but I guess you could get the nickname Cici more easily. Cece is easier to get to from Cecily, but looks misspelled, once again.