Celia

Gender: Feminine
Origin: Latin
Meaning: “heaven”
Eng (SEE-lee-uh); It (CHEY-lee-ah); Sp (SEY-lee-ah; THEY-lee-ah)

The name is a feminine form of the Roman family name, Caelius, which is derived from the Latin caelum meaning, “heaven.” Alternately, it has also been suggested to be derived from the Estruscan word celi (September).

The name is found as the name of a character in William Shakespeare’s As You Like It (1599).

In the English-speaking world, it is occassionally used as a short form of Cecilia.

Currently, Celia is the 743rd most popular female name, but she is even trendier in other countries. Her rankings are as follows:

# 35 (France, 2008)
# 36 (Spain, 2010)
#49 (Belgium, 2010)
# 89 (Catalonia, 2010)

Other forms of the name include:

Caelia (Ancient Roman)
Zelia (Basque)
Cèlia (Catalan)
Célia (French/Portuguese)
Célie (French)
Zélie (French)
Silke (German/Plattdeutsch)
Silja (Frisian)

A more unusual Italian and Spanish masculine form is Celio and the Polish Celiusz.

Sources

1. http://www.behindthename.com/name/celia
2. http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celia_(nombre)