MEANING & HISTORY
What does Celia mean?
Celia has two useful histories to distinguish. As a full Latin-derived name it represents Caelia, the feminine form of the Roman family name Caelius, traditionally connected with caelum, sky or heaven.
It can also be used as a short form of Cecilia, which belongs to the different Caecilius name family. Shakespeare’s use of Celia in As You Like It helped establish the spelling in English literature. Thus sky is relevant to the Caelius route, but should not automatically replace the history of a Celia specifically shortened from Cecilia.
Pronunciation & syllables
Dictionary readings are kept by language. Select the reading that matches your intended pronunciation. Dots show the source’s written divisions; they are not a universal syllable count across languages.
Spanish
- /ˈθelja/
- [ˈθe.lja]
- /ˈselja/
- [ˈse.lja]
Ce · lia2 source divisions
Dictionary reading & contributors ↗Wiktionary contributors / Kaikki / Wiktextract · CC BY-SA 4.0
Origin and name formation
Language-specific accounts from the dictionary. A shared spelling can have more than one history.
EnglishEtymology & source
Borrowed from Latin Caelia, feminine of Roman family name Caelius, probably from caelum (“heaven”). Introduced into English by William Shakespeare in As You Like It.
A female given name from Latin.
SpanishEtymology & source
Borrowed from Latin Caelia, name of a Roman gens.
a female given name, equivalent to English Celia
Adapted from Wiktionary contributors via Kaikki/Wiktextract. Source accounts remain in their original English; editorial summaries and filters are adapted. Attribution and downloads
People with the name Celia
Public figures and other documented namesakes linked by an explicit given-name claim. This is a selection of records, not a popularity ranking.
DOCUMENTED NAMESAKE
Maricel Soriano
Filipino actress and comedian (born 1965)
DOCUMENTED NAMESAKE
Celia Fuentes
actor
The record establishes the name association, not the person’s intended meaning, pronunciation or ancestry. Descriptions are attributed to Wikidata contributors (CC0).
Use in Philippine-linked records
Public-record transcription
3
eligible source records · 2001
This spelling is reported in an openly licensed transcription of elected-candidate records. This is a record count, not a birth count or national popularity measure.
OpenHalalan / COMELEC ↗Wikidata
6
distinct person records with an explicit given-name claim
Community-edited coverage, not a census or birth registry. Examples: Maricel Soriano, Celia Fuentes
PSA · OFFICIAL BIRTH RECORDS
Celia in the birth records
Exact spelling and stated year in the published name tables. Read the counts as individual snapshots.
Tables included: 2016, 2017, 2018, 2020, 2022, 2023 and 2024. The 2016 fact sheet lists five names per sex; the later tables include ten. Missing counts are not inferred. Sex categories follow the official tables, independently of dictionary gender labels. Explore the official tables →
Similar names to Celia
Names with a similar opening or ending, ordered by spelling distance. Similar spelling does not imply the same meaning or origin.
Names in this collection
- Celsa·Feminine Celsus form, tall or lofty
- Delia♀Of Delos
- Lelia·Italian form of the Roman name Laelia
- Nelia♀Familiar form in the Cornelis/Cornelia family
- Velia·From the Roman family name Velius
- Amelia♀From Amalia and the Germanic amal name-element
- Cecelia·Cecilia-family form; possibly linked with Latin blind
- Cecil♂Roman Caecilius; also an English family-name route
What rhymes with Celia?
Matches share a dictionary-supplied rhyme key in the stated language. Check the recorded reading; another language or accent can change the rhyme.
Recorded combinations with Celia
1 source-reported compound forms include this name as a component. Each part keeps its own history.
Names in this collection
Explore combinations →Explore Celia further
Follow the sources
- OpenHalalan — pinned 2001 COMELEC transcription (opens in a new tab)
Source-reported given-name form in a row with a separate explicit middle initial; ODbL-1.0.
- COMELEC — 2001 List of Elected Candidates (opens in a new tab)
Original document identified by the transcription; selected PDF entries were spot-checked, not every imported row.
- COMELEC — 2001 List of Elected Candidates (opens in a new tab)
Original document identified by the transcription; selected PDF entries were spot-checked, not every imported row.
- Wikidata given-name item Q900312 — Celia (opens in a new tab)
Given-name identity, native labels, language associations and explicit class where present; not lexical meaning or population frequency.
- Wikidata — Maricel Soriano (opens in a new tab)
Explicit given-name claim P735 linking to Q900312 and citizenship claim P27 linking to Philippines Q928; community-edited evidence, not a civil-registry record.
- Wikidata — Celia Fuentes (opens in a new tab)
Explicit given-name claim P735 linking to Q900312 and citizenship claim P27 linking to Philippines Q928; community-edited evidence, not a civil-registry record.
- Wiktionary contributors — Celia (English) (opens in a new tab)
Language-specific given-name etymology; shared spelling does not prove every bearer has this origin.
- Wiktionary contributors — Celia (Spanish) (opens in a new tab)
Language-specific given-name etymology; shared spelling does not prove every bearer has this origin.
- Behind the Name — Celia (opens in a new tab)
Onomastic account consulted for this exact name or its explicitly linked name family.
- Behind the Name — Caelius (opens in a new tab)
Caelius/Caelia and caelum heaven connection; separate from Cecilia shortening.