Céline

Gender: Feminine
Origin: French
Meaning: “heaven.”
Fr (SAY-leen); Eng (seh-LEEN).

The name is a French feminine form of the Old Roman family name Caelinus which is related to the Latin Caelius meaning “heaven.” In this case the name Celia is related.

It is also sometimes considered a contraction of Marcéline.

The name has always been prevalent in French speaking countries and has become common in non Francophone countries as well.

In Belgium it was the 99th most popular female name in 2003, in France she came in at # 97 in 2002. In the Netherlands she came in # 272 in 2008, while in Norway she came in at # 51 in 2007. In the United States she recently fell out of the top 1000, in 2007 she came in at # 995. The name is borne by Canadian singer Celine Dion. Other forms of the name include:

• Caelina (Latin)
• Celina (Italian: pronounced chay-LEE-nah. There is also a masculine form: Celino)
• Celina/Celine (Norwegian: seh-LEE-nah; seh-LEE-nε).
• Celina (Polish: pronounced tseh-LEE-nah)

The designated name-day in France is October 21.