Cicely

Attested across 17 languages in the etymology graph.

Names that people choosing a name often weigh against Cicely, most often first. They share a style rather than an origin.

• Acacia
• Blossom
• Sicily
• Bryony
• Artemisia
• Azalea
• Amaryllis
• Briony
• Delphine
• Daphne
• Althea
• Adelaide

From the names suggested together in public name-advice forums, in English. A list of what people consider, not a measure of how common any name is.

Cicely is also recorded in 2 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.

• In English, fictional town. AK; pers. name

  as a name·Pronouncing Dictionary of Proper Names

• English: variant spelling of CECILY . This was a common form of the name in the Middle Ages. Cognate: Scandinavian: Sissel. Pet form: English: SISSY .

  as a word

Ordered by how much of this spelling's record each language holds, so a sense from a language the name is barely used in sits last rather than first.

• Cicely Hamiltonb. 1872GBBritish actress and writer
• C. Fox Smithb. 1882GBnot in their usual nameEnglish poet
• Cicely Courtneidgeb. 1893GBEnglish actress and comedian (1893–1980)
• Cicely Williamsb. 1893JMJamaican physician (1893-1992)
• Cicely Mary Barkerb. 1895GBBritish artist (1895-1973)
• Cicely Veronica Wedgwoodb. 1910GBEnglish historian (1910–1997)
• Margaret Cicely Langton Greeneb. 1913GBBritish speech and language therapist
• Cicely Saundersb. 1918GBEnglish writer, doctor, founder of the hospice care movement, palliative care activist
• Cicely Popplewellb. 1920GBBritish software engineer
• Cicely Tysonb. 1924USAmerican actress (1924–2021)

The ten people covered by the most Wikipedia language editions — a proxy for cross-cultural notability, which favours historical and Western figures over equally prominent contemporary ones — shown by birth year. Source: Wikidata (CC0).

A formal English salutation is built on the surname, so it needs a full name — on its own, a first name only supports the informal form.

Register rows as of the 2026-10-09 data build.

What does the name Cicely mean, and where does it come from?

A female given name from Latin, a variant of Cecily and Cecilia used since the Middle Ages. Recorded by kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations).

How do you pronounce Cicely?

It depends on the language: in English /ˈsɪsəli/ (Wiktionary); in Spanish /θjθeli/. Transcriptions are machine-generated except where a dictionary is named.

What are other forms of the name Cicely?

In the etymology graph, Cecilia, Sheila and Shelia are forms of the same name in other languages.

In which country does Cicely have the most bearers?

In the United States, the national register counted about 2.2 thousand people named Cicely, more than in any other country we hold, where it is most often spelled cicely.

Where is Cicely most common?

Measured as a share of residents rather than as a count, Cicely is densest in Guyana — about 1 in 9.0 thousand people — even though United States holds more of our records for it.

Is Cicely a male or female name?

Cicely is a female name. National registers that list it by sex list it as female: United States (Census Bureau, 2020).

How common is the name Cicely?

In the United States, the national register counted 2,189 people named Cicely in 2020, about 1 in 152 thousand residents.