Cecilia, the musical name that has been fading away

On November 22nd we celebrate Saint Cecilia, one of the most famous figures of the Christian church, but one that is no longer chosen as a name for babies born in the 21st century in Catalonia. The name has its roots in Latin, Caecilius or Caecilia, a derivative of the adjective caecus, which means blind or blindly. That is why it symbolizes sensitivity, humility, and emotional depth.

Although her authenticity is disputed, history explains that she was a woman of Christian faith who died as a martyr at the hands of the Romans. For her faith, she was condemned to die by suffocation in the baths of her own home. During the three days she fought between life and death, she never stopped dedicating songs to God; that is why she is the patron saint of music, musicians, and poets.

In any case, if names followed a musical score, Cecilia's would have a long diminuendo written on it. This musical name rang out strongly for decades in our country, but today it is approaching a pianissimo: only six babies received this name in 2025, and the same number the previous year. As Francesc Calafell, principal investigator at the IBE (CSIC - Pompeu Fabra University) and professor and researcher at the UPF, says jokingly, “it is a name on the verge of disappearing; more people die with it than are born with it”.

Among female names, Cecília occupies the 222nd position in Catalonia, very far from the 100th it occupies among those born before 1940. Its best moment was in the sixties: 480 Cecílias born between 1960 and 1969. Afterwards, the name began to be lost. Today it is carried by 2,708 women in the Principality, or its Spanish form, since Idescat does not distinguish between the form with and without an accent. As a curious fact, Calafell explains to us that “in Catalonia there are 93 Cecílias and in Italy it is a name that is on the rise. In 2025 it was in the top 25 most used”.

Where the name is most preserved is in Lleida. In Pla d’Urgell there are 2.48 Cecílias for every thousand women; in Noguera, 2.25; in Garrigues, 1.97, and in Urgell, 1.88. In other places, the name practically does not exist. Alta Ribagorça, Aran, Lluçanès, the two Pallars, Pla de l’Estany and Ribera d’Ebre do not reach the minimum number of cases that Idescat needs to publish data. It surely has more tradition in the lands of Lleida due to the medieval historical figure of Cecília of Urgell, who was the daughter of Peter II of Urgell and Margaret of Montferrat. She was about to marry King Martin the Humane, but finally she did so with Bernard IV, Count of Modica, with whom she did not have any children.

This explains why, within the state, Lleida is the second province where most people carry this name, behind Asturias. It is a more frequent name in Spain and in Latin American countries such as Mexico or Argentina. In fact, it is a common name among artists such as the Mexican Cecilia Suárez or the Argentinians Cecilia Roth and Cecilia Beatriz Galliano.

Cecília, in Catalonia, is, on average, 57.5 years old. Outside the Principality, however, the name has aged less: the Cecilia of the state as a whole is eight years younger; she is 49.3 years old.

According to Calafell “it is a pity because it is a beautiful and symbolic name; it is not the typical granny name that has fallen into disuse like Josefina or Enriqueta”. That is why he encourages all culture lovers to name their children Cecília. And it is a name that has its masculine form: Cecil in Catalan and Cecilio in Spanish. Furthermore, it has quite a few nice diminutives such as Cília, Cila, Cili or Ceci.

The muse of musicians

Many singer-songwriters and music groups have dedicated songs to her, as a sign of their gratitude, to the divine muse always represented with a harp or an organ. Such as Silvio Rodríguez and Pablo Milanés who together set to music the verses of Santa Cecilia, by the Cuban poet Manuel Corona. But there are also others with a more cheerful and catchy rhythm like Cecilia, which the American duo Simon & Garfunkel released on their successful 1970 album Bridge over troubled water. A song that talks about a complicated love relationship with its ups and downs, marked by jealousy and infidelity. Although it seems that its authors had a gesture towards the patron saint of music, it may also have been dedicated to the black Labrador dog that Paul Simon owned at the time.

In Spain, we have the case of the singer Cecilia, although, in reality, this was her stage name, as her name was Evangelina Sobredo Galanes. She became very popular in the 1970s with great hits that challenged Francoism. The best known was Un ramito de violetas, a theme that talks about freedom, love, and feminism, very advanced for its time. Her career, however, was cut short when she died at the age of 27 in a traffic accident. She is considered another member of the 27 Club, singers who died at that age, such as Kurt Cobain, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison, and Amy Winehouse.