Name of the Week

A Royal name with a divine connection and several musical links.
Cecilia has all the same ingredients as Emilia, yet is far less used.

 

Origin:

Cecilia is the common form of the Latin Caecilia, the feminine form of Caecilius. The gens Caecilia were a notable plebeian family.   The name derives from the Latin caecus "blind." Like many Roman families, the Caecilii were said to said to be descended from a mythical figure. They derived their origins from Caeculus, the son of the fire god Vulcan who was born of a spark. In his Aeneid, Virgil describes Caeculus as the founder of Praeneste who was born among the rural herds and found upon the hearth. Virgil explains the origins of his name: "His name means 'little blind boy' and there was a story that he had screwed up eyes because of the smoke of hearth. Vulcan's other son, 'Cacus', lives in a dark cave and creates'blinding' smoke." Another tale relates that, as a boy, Caeculus was exposed to fire. His divine parentage helped him to subdue the flames but the smoke from the flames made his eyes smaller.  Either way, it seems the ancient Romans connected the smoke from fire with blindness. It is possible that in the Archaic Roman past, priests and nobles who presided over burning sacrifices to the gods would have had the same association.

Usage

St Cecilia was a second century virgin martyr who is regarded as the patron saint of music because she was said to have sung hymns till the bitter end. Her worship was popular in the Western Church in the Middle Ages and was brought into popular general use. William the Conqueror had a daughter with the name (born pre-1066) who was Abbess of Caen.  The Normans brought Cecilia (or Cecile in Old French) to Britain with them and it soon caught on. Redmonds ranks Cecilia (Cecile) as the 12th most common name for women from 1377-81, which he regards as "popular." The vernacular form in Britain was Cecily, Cicely or Sisley — though it was sometimes Cecile or Cecil — and gave rise to the hypocoristic forms Ciss, Siss, Sissel, Sisselot, Sissot, Sisey, Sizey, Sela and Sely. From all the variant forms we get the surnames Siss, Sissot, Sisley, Sicely and Sisterson.  Cecily Neville, Duchess of York (1415-1495), known as both the "Rose of Raby" and "Proud Cis" — she herself signed her name Cecylle  — was the mother of Edward IV and Richard III. Her granddaughter, Princess Cecily of York, Viscountess Welles (1469-1507) was named in her honour.  The vernacular Cicely continued in quite popular use until at least the 18th century. In my most popular Elizabethan names of Norfolk, Cicely ranks #15 overall. Smith Bannister ranks Cecily as a top 50 name from 1538 to 1670:  1538-49: #16; 1550-9: #33; 1560-9: #20; 1570-9: #28; 1580-9: #24; 1590-9: #31; 1600-9: #33; 1610-9: #27; 1620-9: #29; 1630-9: #45; 1640-9: #39; 1650-9: #43; 1660-9: #37. By the late 18th century, the Latinate Cecilia was back in fashion, most likely thanks to Madame d'Arblay's (Frances Burney) popular novel Cecilia (1782) which tells the story of beautiful and intelligent Cecilia Beverley, whose inheritance from her uncle comes with the stipulation that she find a husband who will accept her name. The same author also caused a name-sensation with her first novel Evelina. Cecilia was still used in the 19th century, though popular fashions seems to have reverted to favour Cecily again. C.M.Yonge explained in 1863: "And so the gentlewomen who had inherited Cicely from from their grandmothers were ashamed of it; and it became Cecilia, with Miss Burney's novel to give them an example, until the present reaction against fine names setting in, brought them back to Cecil and Cecily." According to data from the 1881 census, Cecilia was 231st most common name (male and female) and was spread across the country. When looking at the data per 100,000, usage is striking in Scotland and Southern England.  Cecilia ranked #107 in 1870, #115 in 1880, #122 in 1890 and #113 in 1900.  During the 20th century, Cecilia started off well, especially in the 1920s, but was uncommon by the 1960s. It briefly spiked in usage in the 1970s perhaps thanks to the son Cecilia by Simon and Garfunkle. This can be seen in Leslie Dunkling's data for the number of girls registered with the name Cecilia in every 10,000 births in England and Wales over the 20th century:  1900 1925  1935 1950 1955 1960  1965  1970  1975  1980  1985  1990    13     20     2          2                5        Since 1996, Cecilia has sporadically been increasing in usage in England and Wales.  In 1996 it ranked #823 with 27 births and had reached #571 by 2000. It was at its lowest rank in 2005 at #915 (30 babies) but has been on an incline since.  In Scotland, Cecilia has had a birth count of between 1 and 4 births from 2005 to 2011. It's highest point was in 2012 when it ranked #397 with 9 births.  In 2013, Cecilia ranked #547 (76 births) in England and Wales and ranked #1525 (1 birth) in Scotland.  Elsewhere in the world, Cecilia was a top 100 name in both Spain and Sweden up until 2002, and currently ranks #223 in  the USA. The variant Cecilie was #1 in Denmark in 1997 and still remains in their top 50.

Famous Bearers:

History: * Saint Cecilia, 2nd century virgin martyr and patron Saint of musicians * Cecilia (Cecily) of Normandy (d. 1126), daughter of William the Conqueror. * Cecilia Johansdotter of Sweden (fl. 1193), reputed Queen Consort of King Canute I of Sweden. * Princess Cecilia of Sweden (1540–1627), daughter of King Gustav I. * Archduchess Cecilia Renata of Austria (1611–1644), Queen consort of Poland. * Cecilia Young (1712–1789), English soprano. * Princess Cecilia of Sweden (1807–1844), daughter of King Gustav IV and a composer. Contemporary: * Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin (1900–1979), English-American astronomer. * Cecilia Parker (1914–1993), Canadian actress. * Cecilia Pantoja (b. 1943), Chilean singer songwriter. * Cecilia Morel (b. 1954), Chilean First Lady, wife of President Sebastián Piñera. * Cecilia Gasdia (b. 1960), Italian soprano. * Cecilia Bartoli (b. 1966), Italian mezzo-soprano. Literature and Other Media: * Cecilia (1782), a novel by Frances Burney. * Cecilia, an opera by Licinio Refice. * Cecilia (Sissy) Jupe, a character in Charles Dicken's Hard Times (1854).  * Cecilia, a song by Simon and Garfunkle from their Bridge Over Troubled Water (1970) album.

Variants:

Cecily, Cicely, Sisley (English), Caecilia (Ancient Roman), Sheila, Síle (Irish), Sìleas (Scottish), Cécile (French), Cäcilia (German), Cecilija (Croatian, Slovene), Cecilie, Cille, Silje, Sille (Danish, Norwegian, Czech), Cecylia (Polish), Cecília (Portuguese), Tsetsiliya (Russian), Kaikilia (Greek)

Pronunciation:

se-SEE-lee-ə [key]

Possible  Diminutives:

Cessie, Cici, Sissy, Ceelie/Seelie, Cilla Silke, Zilla, Sela, Sely,

Sibling Names:

Clementine     Margaux     Letitia     Gisela     Tatiana     Liliana  Felix     Barnaby     Benedict      Edmund     Xavier     Laurence

Name Lists:

Upright Elegance   Gorgeously Georgian   Dickensian Names   European Royalty

 

If you like Cecilia you may also like:  Clemency, Aurelia, Clarissa, Arabella, Claudia, Mariana, Sylvia, Romilly, Perdita, Cosima

 

Thanks to Freesias for requesting this post.