Background

The name Celeste originally derived from the Latin word caelestis which can mean "heavenly", "of the sky", or "celestial". According to the Online Etymology Dictionary, Celeste was used as a woman's name in Old French borrowed from caelestis around the 11th century. The name made its way into later forms of the French language and was eventually borrowed by the English language.

Other Romance languages like Spanish and Italian derived the word "celestial" and the name Celeste from the same Latin origin. Celeste is also an adjective in Spanish and Italian used to describe the color sky blue (ex. "azul celeste"). Today, the name Celeste remains popular in countries like Spain, Italy, and France and is more traditionally unisex than in English-speaking countries but is more common for girls.

Today, Celeste can refer to more than just a name. For example, a celeste or celesta is the name of a small upright piano with a bell-like sound. Celeste is also the name of a highly-rated 2018 single-player adventure video game. And last but not least, Celeste can refer to the frozen personal pizza brand of the same name.

Some other variations of the name Celeste include Celestia, Celestine, or Celine.

/səˈlɛst/

(suh • LEST)

Naming Trends

When it comes to looking at why certain names appear more frequently than others, there are a few cultural factors to keep in mind. Across cultures, it is common for new parents to name their children after family members of previous generations. This is one reason why popular names within a particular culture remain popular and why other names remain obscure.

Did you know names are not as diverse as you might think? The majority of Americans prefer to choose names that are consistently well-known. According to the Social Security Administration (SSA), for U.S. births in 2021, the top 1000 names represent about 72 percent of all names given. In fact, the top 100 names represent about 30 percent of all names given. Girls' names are also more diverse than boys' names, making some of the most common names in America names like James, Robert, and John.

But there has been a recent trend of baby names becoming more unique in the last 100 and last 20 years. The percentage of boys and girls receiving names in the top 1000 has been declining. Social researchers suggest this may have to do with a cultural shift toward the significance of maintaining a personal brand. They also suggest social media and progressive gender roles each play roles in parents inventing new names for their children.

Is there a chance the name Celeste will be the next big trend? We'll have to wait and see.

Celestes by US States

Overall, the name Celeste has an estimated prevalance of 16.8 Celestes per 100,000 Americans. According to an analysis of the past century of SSA's Baby Names Index, there is an estimated population of approximately 50,000 Celestes currently living in the United States.

It is no surprise that most Celestes live in the most populated states in the US. Louisiana is the state with the most significant difference between the population total and the proportion of Celestes per 100,000 Americans. Louisiana is also a state known for its cultural and historical ties to France, the country of origin of the name Celeste.

Data from SSA is entirely a sample of records of Social Security card applications as of March 2022. This means that those without American citizenship or people not born in the United States, 13.7% of the population, are not represented in this data.

Celestes by Race and Ethnicity

One's culture and heritage are undoubtedly factors in naming a person. Different ethnic groups are influenced by different pop cultures and belief systems that shape the deciding factors of how someone is named.

Girls named Celeste are more likely to be white and less likely to be of Hispanic origin than the general American population. Celeste is a name derived from Latin and is popular among Western European countries where Romance languages are spoken. So Celeste is more likely to be common amongst people of Western European descent than other ethnicities.

Popularity Over Time

Celeste has been present in the top 1000 most popular baby names for females in the United States since 1900. Annual rank refers to the place Celeste ranked in the most popular baby names for females in a given year. The more popular the name, the numerically lower the rank.

As you can see, the annual rank of the name Celeste does not directly correlate to the number of Celestes born in a given year. Yet, the annual rank and total occurrences of female Celestes born both peaks in 2004. In 2004, Celeste represented 0.081 percent of 2,017,464 total female births. Before 2004, Celeste peaked in popularity in 1961 and 1997.

And as the total occurrences of Celestes have increased since the early 1900s, the number of births in the United States has drastically increased. Compare the total number of births (male and female) in 1921 of 2,417,672 to the total number of births (male and female) in 2021 of 3,640,132. This figure had been decreasing from 2014 through 2020 and is now on the rise from 2020.

Celeste has also been growing in popularity since 2016. So while the number of births decreases, Celeste is becoming slightly more prevalent. There is no way to predict if Celeste will continue to increase in popularity. If parents continue to opt for more unique names and also continue to be influenced by pop culture and social media, the name Celeste could see a rise in popularity in the future.

Search Your Name

In 2021, Celeste ranked 322 for most popular girls' names in the United States, according to SSA. Celeste has never ranked in the top 100 names for girls, but 30% of the population has names in the top 100. Use this tool to search if your name ranked in the top 100 boys or girls' names in 2021.

Percent of births refers to the percentage of a name that accounts for the births of a given gender. For example, Celeste represented 0.056 percent of total female births in 2021.

The search is not case-sensitive but does not account for alternative spellings (ex. Sophia versus Sofia). Each spelling of a name is given its own ranking and is considered a separate name. If on clicking "Search" or pressing Enter no results appear, that name was not ranked in the top 100 boys or girls' names for 2021.

Name	Gender	Rank	Percent of Births (M or F)	Number of Births

Making a Name for Myself