Nameling

Ceili

Gender
Girl
Say it
KAY-lee
Origin
Irish

Ceili is a girls' name of Irish origin, meaning “social gathering with dancing”. Too few babies were given it in the latest year to rank.

What does Ceili mean?

Irish: from Irish céilí, a social gathering

“social gathering with dancing”

From the Irish word céilí, a traditional social gathering with music and dancing.

Is Ceili a girl's or a boy's name?

Ceili is a girls' name.

How popular is Ceili in the US?

No girls in the US were given it in 2025, or too few to be listed. Its busiest year was 1997, with 23 girls. It first appears in the records in 1989.

Half of all the girls named Ceili in the US since 1880 were born between 1997 and 2006, the years shaded on the chart below.

1989Busiest: 23 in 19972019
Ceili in the US, year by year
YearGirlsRank
20196#13,793
20185#15,677
20175#15,898
20165#16,210
20155#16,413
20149#10,949
20130–
20120–
20110–
20100–
200910#10,675
200810#10,802
20079#11,626
200616#7,480
200519#6,240
200417#6,763
200315#7,202
200214#7,438
200114#7,311
200016#6,481
199913#7,233
199812#7,527
199723#4,505
199612#7,125
19959#8,761
199411#7,598
19938#9,552
19926#11,730
19915#13,139
19906#11,403
19898#8,755

Names like Ceili

Names given in the same years and the same naming tradition, with a similar sound.

Names related to Ceili

More Irish names

Every Irish name

Sources

Figures from Popular Baby Names (US Social Security Administration). Nameling last updated them on 20 October 2026. How the figures are worked out, and the data to download.

To cite this page: Nameling, “Ceili: name meaning, origin and popularity”, https://www.nameling.co.uk/names/ceili, updated 20 October 2026.