Cecilia

From Latin Caecilia, feminine form of Caecilius, a Roman family name possibly derived from the byname caecus (“blind”). Popularized by Saint Cecilia, third century Roman martyr, the patron saint of music. Doublet of Sheila.

• IPA^(key): /sɪˈsiːli.ə/, /sɪˈsɪli.ə/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -iːliə

Cecilia

1. A female given name from Latin.
   • 1694, Joseph Addison, A Song for St. Cecilia's Day:

     Hark how the flutes and trumpets raise / At bright Cecilia's name, their lays!

   • 1854, Charles Dickens, “Book I, Chapter II”, in Hard Times. For These Times, London: Bradbury & Evans, […], →OCLC:

     ‘Sissy is not a name,’ said Mr. Gradgrind. ‘Don’t call yourself Sissy. Call yourself Cecilia.’ ‘It’s father as calls me Sissy, sir,’ returned the young girl in a trembling voice, and with another curtsey. ‘Then he has no business to do it,’ said Mr. Gradgrind. ‘Tell him he mustn’t. Cecilia Jupe. Let me see. What is your father?’

   • 1928, Lynn Montross, “Silent Minstrel”, in American Magazine, volume 106, page 14:

     Because they had named her Cecilia, her parents fancied that the matter of her life and character had been fairly well settled. She would, of course, be quiet and pale and mystical, like the saint whose picture hung above the old upright piano in the Kirby living-room.

• (pet forms): Sissy, Ceecee, CeeCee, Cici, Ceci
• (variants): Cecelia, Cecile, Cecily, Cicely
• (male form): Cecil
• (related names): Sheila (alternate spellings: Sheela, Sheelagh, Shelagh, Sheilagh, Sile), Celia (often regarded as a short form of Cecilia)

• Celia (“Latin: Caelia, from Caelius, probably from caelum (“heaven”)”)

From Swedish Cecilia.

• IPA^(key): /ˈsesi(ː)liɑ/, [ˈs̠e̞s̠i(ː)ˌliɑ̝]
• Rhymes: -iɑ

Cecilia

1. a female given name

• Cecilia is the 318^th most common female given name in Finland, belonging to 1,453 female individuals (and as a middle name to 3,727 more, making it more common as a middle name), according to August 2025 data from the Digital and Population Data Services Agency of Finland.

Cecilia

1. a female given name, variant of Cäcilia

• IPA^(key): /t͡ʃeˈt͡ʃi.lja/
• Rhymes: -ilja
• Hyphenation: Ce‧cì‧lia

Cecilia f

1. a female given name, equivalent to English Cecilia

• celiaci, ciecali

• IPA^(key): /θeˈθilja/ [θeˈθi.lja] (Spain, Equatorial Guinea)
• IPA^(key): /seˈsilja/ [seˈsi.lja] (Latin America, Philippines)
• Rhymes: -ilja
• Syllabification: Ce‧ci‧lia

Cecilia f

1. a female given name, equivalent to English Cecilia

From Latin saint's name Caecilia. First recorded in Sweden in the 12th century.

• Audio:

  (file)

Cecilia c (genitive Cecilias)

1. a female given name, equivalent to English Cecilia

• Roland Otterbjörk: Svenska förnamn, Almqvist & Wiksell 1996, →ISBN
• [1] Statistiska centralbyrån and Sture Allén, Staffan Wåhlin, Förnamnsboken, Norstedts 1995, →ISBN: 63 761 females with the given name Cecilia living in Sweden on December 31st, 2010, with the frequency peak in the 1970s. Accessed on 19 June 2011.