Cicely

Where Cicely comes from

Wiktionary's etymology listing comes up empty for Cicely.

  • Latin
  • Vowel-ended
Cicely through the years
  1. 1917
    First appearance
    #4,594 among girls with 5 babies, the first year at least five got the name.
  2. 1918
    Cicely Saunders born
    English writer, doctor, founder of the hospice care movement, palliative care activist
  3. 1924
    Cicely Tyson born
    American actress
  4. 1972
    Around this time: Cicely Tyson in Sounder
    Film, 1972 · Source
  5. 1974
    Peak, #608
    256 babies named Cicely, the most in any year.
  6. 1975
    The fade
    The first year with half the peak's births, down to #1,012.
In the dictionary
  • A female given name from Latin, a variant of Cecily and Cecilia used since the Middle Ages.
Namesakes
  • Cicely Tyson · American actress, 1924–2021
  • Cicely Saunders · English writer, doctor, founder of the hospice care movement, palliative care activist, 1918–2005
  • Cicely Hamilton · British actress and writer, 1872–1952
  • Cicely Courtneidge · English actress and comedian, 1893–1980
  • Cicely Mary Barker · British artist, 1895–1973

Sources: the origin note and dictionary entry are quoted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0); the namesakes come from Wikidata (CC0); the milestones are worked out from the SSA record. Events show what happened around then, not why parents chose the name.