How popular is the baby name Chelsea in the United States right now? How popular was it historically? Use the popularity graph and data table below to find out! Plus, see all the blog posts that mention the name Chelsea.

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Popularity of the baby name Chelsea


Posts that mention the name Chelsea

Baby names with SEA: Seaborn, Tysean, Chelsea

the sea

Looking for baby names that contain the word SEA?

If so, you’re in luck!

Below you’ll find a long list of names that contain the letter sequence “s-e-a.” Most of these names come directly from the U.S. SSA’s baby name data.

  • Alesea
  • Alisea
  • Alysea, Alyssea
  • Asean
  • Aseante
  • Casea, Cassea
  • Celsea
  • Cesear
  • Chalsea
  • Charlsea
  • Chealsea
  • Chelesea
  • Chelsea, Chellsea, Chelseay
  • Chrisean, Chrissean
  • Daesean, Daysean
  • Daisean
  • Dasean
  • Delsean
  • Desean
  • Dresean
  • Dsean
  • Dusean
  • Dysean
  • Elisea
  • Esean
  • Helsea
  • Hosea
  • Iseah
  • Jahsean
  • Jaisean
  • Jasean
  • Jasear
  • Jaysea
  • Jaysean, Jaesean
  • Jesean
  • Josea
  • Josean
  • Joseane
  • Joseany
  • Jsean
  • Kasea, Kassea
  • Kasean
  • Kaysea
  • Kaysean
  • Keesean
  • Keisean
  • Kelsea, Kellsea, Khelsea
  • Kesean
  • Keysean
  • Kisean
  • Krisean
  • Ksean
  • Kysean
  • Lasean
  • Lesean
  • Lindsea, Lyndsea
  • Linsea, Lynsea
  • Lueseal
  • Luseane
  • Marsea
  • Marsean
  • Maysea
  • Mysean
  • Naisean
  • Nasean
  • Nasear
  • Naysean
  • Nisean
  • Nysean
  • Odysseas
  • Osean
  • Oseas
  • Quasean
  • Quaysean
  • Quesean
  • Quisean
  • Rahsean
  • Raisean
  • Rasean
  • Raysean, Raesean
  • Resean
  • Rosea
  • Roseabella
  • Rosealee
  • Rosealeigh
  • Rosealie
  • Rosealina
  • Rosealine
  • Rosealyn
  • Rosealynn
  • Rosean
  • Roseana
  • Roseann
  • Roseanna
  • Roseanne
  • Rousseau
  • Sea
  • Seabert
  • Seaborn, Seaborne, Seabourn, Seabourne
  • Seabrook, Seabrooke
  • Seaburn
  • Seabury
  • Seadra
  • Seaman, Seamon
  • Seager
  • Seah
  • Seaira, Seairra, Seairah
  • Seals
  • Sealtiel
  • Seamas
  • Seamus
  • Sean, Seann
  • Seana, Seanna
  • Seanan
  • Seanda
  • Seandee
  • Seandell
  • Seandra
  • Seandre
  • Seandrea
  • Seaneen
  • Seanette
  • Seanice
  • Seanix
  • Seaniya
  • Seanne
  • Seanta
  • Seantae
  • Seante
  • Seara, Searra
  • Searcy
  • Searia
  • Searl, Searle
  • Searria
  • Sears
  • Season
  • Seasons
  • Seath
  • Seaton
  • Seattle
  • Seaver
  • Seavy
  • Shelsea, Shellsea
  • Taisean
  • Tasean
  • Taysean, Taesean
  • Teresea, Theresea
  • Tersea, Thersea
  • Tesean
  • Teysean
  • Thresea
  • Tisean
  • Traesean
  • Trasean
  • Treasea
  • Tresea
  • Tresean
  • Treysean
  • Tsean
  • Tysean
  • Tyseana
  • Vasean
  • Zaysean
  • Zysean

Some of the above are non-traditional spellings of more common names such as Casey, Lindsay, and Marcy.

Other sea-themed names I’ve blogged about include Seafield, Seaford, Seaforth, Seawillow, and Skysea.

Which SEA name do you like most? Let me know in the comments!

Source: SSA

Image: Adapted from 0009 2015 in Tel Aviv-Yafo by Rakoon under CC0 1.0.

What gave the baby name Chelsi a boost in 1995?

Chelsi Smith, Miss Universe 1995
Chelsi Smith (at Miss Universe)

The name Chelsea and its many spelling variants (including Chelsey, Chelsie, and Chelsy) saw peak usage in the early 1990s. They’ve been on the decline ever since.

But Chelsi-with-an-i saw a noticeable (if brief) turnaround in 1995:

  • 1998: 76 baby girls named Chelsi
  • 1997: 111 baby girls named Chelsi
  • 1996: 180 baby girls named Chelsi
  • 1995: 303 baby girls named Chelsi [rank: 697th]
  • 1994: 170 baby girls named Chelsi
  • 1993: 267 baby girls named Chelsi [rank: 773rd]
  • 1992: 324 baby girls named Chelsi [rank: 677th]

Why?

Because of beauty queen Chelsi Smith.

She won the Miss Texas USA pageant in mid-1994, then the Miss USA pageant in early 1995. (Notably, she was also voted Miss Congeniality by the other delegates in both contests.)

Finally, in May of 1995, Chelsi traveled to Windhoek, Namibia, to compete in the Miss Universe pageant (which was “broadcast to more than 600 million viewers worldwide”). She won this one as well, becoming the sixth U.S. woman to wear the Miss Universe crown.

Chelsi Smith, Miss USA 1995
Chelsi Smith (at Miss USA)

The Miss Universe pageant has never included a talent competition, but it did introduce a national costume competition in the early 1960s. The costumes are often ostentatious (“sequins, feathers, fringe and of course, gigantic headpieces”), but Chelsi opted for something more modest:

Smith chose a 75-year-old ankle-length, silk-trimmed cotton lace dress as her national costume to commemorate the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which gave women the right to vote, passed in 1920.

What are your thoughts on the name Chelsi?

Sources:

Images: Screenshots of the TV broadcasts of the 44th Miss Universe pageant and the 44th Miss USA pageant

Name quotes #114: Eilat, Chelsea, Skylen

double quotation mark

Here’s a batch of quotes for the final month of 2022!

From a late 2021 opinion piece, “Every Jewish name tells a Jewish story,” in the Jerusalem Post:

After the 1967 Six Day War, Israelis created names that were lovely and filled with hope. Tal, Elizur, Sharona were born. And names of cities and towns became first names – Sinai, Golan, Eilat are a few. The ’67 war was a watershed for hope in Israel and it was reflected in these new names.

Two highlights from a recent study of American Jewish names by Sarah Bunin Benor and Alicia B. Chandler. The first:

Over the decades, American Jews became more and more likely to give their children names of Jewish origin (English or Hebrew Biblical, Modern Hebrew, etc.), with a major uptick after the 1960s. 14% of Jews in the oldest age group have names of Jewish origin, compared to 63% in the youngest group. The top 10 names for Jewish girls and boys in each decade reflect these changes, such as Ellen and Robert in the 1950s, Rebecca and Joshua in the 1970s, and Noa and Ari in the 2010s.

…and the second:

Jews with distinctively Jewish names are much more likely to sometimes use a “Starbucks name” than Jews with names that are not distinctively Jewish. But some Jews with common American names take on a more Jewish name as their Starbucks name, and some have an “Aroma name” for service encounters in Israel.

From a Yahoo News UK article about Chelsea Bottomley and her son Stamford, who were named after the football club and the club’s stadium (respectively):

Named after the London club’s Stamford Bridge stadium, Stamford has cerebral palsy which, according to the NHS, affects movement and coordination — and impaired vision is common for children with the lifelong condition.

[…]

She added: “My mum had named me Chelsea after the club and, when my boy was born, my mum was such a strong support for me that I named him Stamford for her.”

And, finally, a line from a New York Post story about a baby born aboard an airplane in September:

Skylen Kavon-Air Francis, who was named after his airborne arrival, was carried off the plane as everyone clapped and welcomed the new passenger.

What turned Nico into a girl name (briefly) in the 1970s?

Nico's album "Chelsea Girl" (1967)
Nico album

In places like Italy and Spain, Nico (pronounced nee-ko) is a masculine name. It’s used most often for baby boys in the United States as well, but was trendier for girls from the late ’60s to the mid-’70s:

Girls named NicoBoys named Nico
19761118
19751210
197489
19731814
19721514
19712215
19701912
19691811
1968710
19677*7
1966.6
*Debut

Why?

Because of mononymous singer Nico, who became famous during the late ’60s thanks to her performances in various Andy Warhol projects. She starred in the hit film Chelsea Girls (1966), for instance, and in 1967 she was featured on the albums The Velvet Underground & Nico and Chelsea Girl.

One factor that no doubt helped “Nico” catch on as a girl name (at least temporarily) was the trendiness of the name Nicole during the ’60s and ’70s. (I should mention that the late ’60s is also when the name Chelsea started taking off.)

Nico’s real name was Christa Päffgen. She began using her stage name (which was inspired by an ex-boyfriend named Nikos) while modeling as a teenager.

A few decades later, the male usage of “Nico” rose sharply thanks to the All My Children character Nico Kelly, who was on the soap opera from 1987 to 1989. In fact, Nico was the fastest-rising boy name of 1988. (The name of his girlfriend Cecily also saw much higher usage around that time.)

Girls named NicoBoys named Nico
19909266 [rank: 621st]
19898314 [rank: 548th]
1988596 [rank: 989th]
1987.10

What are your thoughts on the name Nico? Do you like it better as a girl name, or as a boy name?

Source: Nico – Wikipedia

P.S. A similar thing happened to the name Luka two decades later…