The baby name Celeste hits a sweet spot – it’s familiar, but not too common. Add in elegant style and a great meaning, and this could be a perfect choice for a daughter.
Thanks to Another for suggesting our Baby Name of the Day.
WHAT DOES THE NAME CELESTE MEAN?
The baby name Celeste has a Latin origin.
It comes from the Latin caelestis, meaning heavenly.
Caelestis and Caelestinus were used as personal names in late Latin, but the history books usually list them as Celestine. Popes – five of them – answered to the masculine name Celestine between the 400s and the 1200s.
Feminine forms like Celestia, Celestria, and Celestina were in use, too.
CELESTE AND THE NIGHT SKY
Born in 1600, Virginia Galilei grew up as the eldest daughter of world-changing astronomer Galileo Galilei. She took religious orders while still in her teens. Virginia adopted the name Maria Celeste, honoring both her faith and her father’s calling.
The name’s dual connection to the heavens and the night sky persisted over the years. In 1801, French astronomer Jerome Lalande and the staff of the Paris Observatory published Histoire Céleste Française, a major star catalog.
If you visited the 1900 World’s Fair in Paris, you would have seen Le Grand Globe Céleste – a theater showing a movie of the solar system, in the shape of a giant sphere.
And so the baby name Celeste carries a dual meaning: both scientific achievement and spirituality, balanced in two short syllables.
Not surprisingly, there’s a shade of pale blue known as bleu celeste.
MUSICAL CELESTE
A celesta looks a little like an upright piano. It’s a late 19th century and early 20th century instrument. You’ve almost certainly heard it in Tchaikovsky’s “The Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy” in The Nutcracker. The celesta offers a magical, enchanted sound.
If you know your opera, there’s “Celeste Aida” – heavenly Aida, from the famous Verdi opera.
There’s more. The voix celeste – heavenly voice – is an organ stop. And Celeste de Longpré Heckscher composed her own works in the early twentieth century.
That makes this name nicely musical.
MORE FAMOUS PEOPLE NAMED CELESTE
Besides Galileo’s daughter, more women of accomplishment have answered to the name, including:
- Australian comedian and actress Celeste Barber.
- Celeste Taylor played in the WNBA.
- British soul singer Celeste Waite is known simply as Celeste.
- American actressCeleste Holm won an Oscar for Gentleman’s Agreement in 1947.
- Tennessee Celeste Claflin opened a Wall Street brokerage firm with her sister way back in 1870. Tennie C. Claflin also ran for Congress, while her sister, Victoria Woodhull, ran for president.
- Fictional characters abound, too – in children’s literature elephant king Babar is married to Celeste in the Jean de Brunhoff books.
- First released in 2018, video game Celeste features a main character named Madeline, while Celeste refers to a mountain.
- Nicole Kidman played Celeste Wright in Big Little Lies.
- Six Figures Under gave the name to a character during the fourth season.
- In late 2024, a Spanish television series titled Celeste debuted. In their story, Celeste was a fictional pop star.
In 1872, the abandoned ship Mary Celeste was discovered floating in the Atlantic. Despite being seaworthy and well-supplied, the crew abandoned ship. The mystery commanded headlines – both in 1872, and in subsequent years. Theories and tales appeared steadily into the 1920s; it still turns up on historical sites and shows today.
HOW POPULAR IS THE NAME CELESTE?
The baby name Celeste ranks in the US Top 1000 every year since 1880.
But the name surged to #198 in 2024 – an all-time peak in the United States.
What explains the rise?
- The name has entered the Top 100 in both France and Italy, suggesting it might be a true international hit. Worth noting: the final E is pronounced in Italian, as well as Spanish, Portuguese and several other romance languages.
- The celestial connotation puts this name in the same category as popular choices like Luna and Stella.
- It shares the elegance of favorites like Sophia and Charlotte, a timeless girl’s name that builds on popular sounds.
- Speaking of Charlotte, we’ve always loved gently French names for girls. With Josephine in the Top 100 in the United States, Celeste could be a logical successor.
The name’s increas in popularity seems like a combination of all of the above. Parents after an elegant name that feels familiar, but not overly used, could choose the baby name Celeste for a daughter.
Nicknames are a bit of a puzzle, but the name doesn’t require shortening. In fact, that might be another reason this name appeals.
GRACE AND AMBITION
The baby name Celeste is enjoying a resurgence, reaching new heights of popularity in the 21st century.
Blending a graceful, muscial, ethereal vibe with all the ambition suggested by the name’s celestial references, Celeste could be a very popular name, indeed.
For now, though, this could be the perfect first name for parents after something that crosses various cultures and languages, points to the heavens, and yet offers an approachable, very wearable style, too.
What do you think of the baby name Celeste?
First published on October 23, 2008, this post was revised and republished on August 20, 2012; June 15, 2020; and September 16, 2025.
I like my name a lot. I like the meaning of it too. It didn’t even occur to me that my name rhymed with molest. I don’t like nick-names to begin with, so that doesn’t phase me. I’m Hispanic so it’s pronounced in Spanish, but they(my family) shorten it to Celes. My middle name, which sounds so much better in Spanish, is Abigail. Celeste Abigail.
Celestine in English sounds better than in Spanish to me. I like Ciel, reminds me of Black Butler… But my sister’s name is pretty too. Lidia.
I prefer Celesta, with an A. I just think it sounds and looks better. And Celesta is not a name in Babar the way Celeste is.
Celeste is pretty, but I personally prefer Celestia nicknamed Tia.
Celeste and Celestine are lovely names. One of Cameron Dokey’s novels has a character named Celestial “Celeste”, which I rather like as well (the character’s full name, Celestial Heavens, is a bit redundant but whatever).
I love Celeste! If I didn’t have an aversion to reusing first initials, it would be close to the top of my list for another girl. I went to high school with a Celeste, and I only remember everyone saying how beautiful and unique her name was.
I think Celeste is great. I knew it wasn’t overused but I was surprised to read that it is becoming less popular. Love both pronunciations. I think for nicknames you could do Celie or Lessa (reminds me of a character in a book I read, so I like this one) or one poster mentiond CC. Celestine is nice enough, though I don’t like it on a man, but Celestina reminds me of a character from a Spanish novel, not such a nice character, so totally unusable to me. As for Celine, I love this spelled Selene. Selena is also nice, though I prefer that Salena.