Cécile
The French spelling of Cecylia, from a Latin name that meant "blind". Fewer than 50 women in Poland carry it, and no girls have been given it since 2000.
Cécile Pronunciation
Cécile is pronounced TSÉCHEE-le (/ˈt͡sét͡ɕilɛ/).
What Cécile means
Where Cécile comes from and what it has meant to the people who carry it.
Cécile comes from the Latin Caecilia, the feminine form of the Roman clan name Caecilius. That name traces back to caecus, meaning blind. So the plain sense of Cécile is blind, in Polish ślepa or niewidoma.
The French shaped the Latin into Cécile, and the name gained its warmest association through Saint Cecilia, patron of musicians. The old Roman family sense had nothing to do with music. That link came later, from her legend. The blindness in the root stayed as fact rather than verdict.
In Poland the name settled into Cecylia, its everyday variant. From there it softens into diminutives: Cesia and Cela. A girl signed Cecylia on a class register might answer to Cesia by October.
The meaning surprises people. Blind sounds harsh for a name that holds a saint and a feast on 22 November. Yet the Latin caecus is simply what the old Roman name held, before Cécile, before Cecylia, before Cesia.
How many people are named Cécile
1 in 512360 women in Poland is named Cécile. 44 people carry it in the 2025 register: rank #5769 among female names.
Cécile as a middle name
Cécile is a first name for 44 women in Poland and a middle name for another 28, a 61/39 split. In the women's middle-name ranking it sits 1335th, between Boguchwała (28) and Chinyere (28).
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#1333 Betty28
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#1334 Boguchwała28
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#1335 Cecile28
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#1336 Chinyere28
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#1337 Ciara28