Meaning of the nameClélia

Female
Latin origin
Clé-li-a

Clélia is a female name that comes from Latin Cloelia, the name of a legendary heroine of ancient Rome, whose origin is uncertain.

Meaning

The meaning of Clélia is not known for certain. No reliable source documents it, so we give none; below are the origin of the spelling and the official figures.

People (2022): 9,260
Rank in Brazil: #1,819
Median age: 59 years
2010 Census: 11,418; people

Clélia in the 2022 Census

People with the first name Clélia, by the decade they were born. In the chart, 70 = the 1970s and 20+ = 2020 to 2022. The largest group was born in the 1960s (2,240 people).

9,224 women 36 men

Source: IBGE, 2022 Demographic Census, Nomes no Brasil. The census counts the first name of people alive in 2022; small counts are not published, and the first group covers everyone born before 1940. How to read these data.

Where the name Clélia is most common

States with the highest share of people named Clélia in the population, in the 2022 Census.

All states

State	People	% of population
São Paulo	3,772	0.009%
Minas Gerais	1,341	0.007%
Rio Grande do Sul	1,056	0.010%
Rio de Janeiro	526	0.003%
Bahia	447	0.003%
Paraná	393	0.003%
Santa Catarina	309	0.004%
Goiás	247	0.004%
Pará	154	0.002%
Pernambuco	142	0.002%
Distrito Federal	138	0.005%
Mato Grosso do Sul	114	0.004%
Mato Grosso	105	0.003%
Espírito Santo	80	0.002%
Rio Grande do Norte	68	0.002%
Maranhão	53	0.001%
Ceará	51	0.001%
Paraíba	45	0.001%
Sergipe	41	0.002%
Rondônia	38	0.002%
Alagoas	33	0.001%
Amazonas	25	0.001%
Piauí	25	0.001%
Tocantins	24	0.002%

States with fewer than 15 people with the name are not shown: IBGE does not publish those counts.

About the name Clélia

According to the Dicionário de Nomes em Uso no Brasil (Dictionary of Names in Use in Brazil), which cites Machado (1981), Clélia comes from French Clélie, from Latin Cloelia, the name of a legendary heroine of ancient Rome. Wiktionary describes Cloelia as the feminine form of the family name Cloelius, which it links to the Latin verb clueo, 'to be called', 'to have a reputation'; Behind the Name classifies the etymology as uncertain. In the 2022 Census, IBGE recorded 9,260 people named Clélia, with a median age of 59. The name is almost always female and, proportionally, it is most common in Rio Grande do Sul.

Sources

Dicionário de Nomes em Uso no Brasil: Clelia · dicionariodenomesdobrasil.com.br · origin
Wiktionary: Cloelia · en.wiktionary.org · origin
Behind the Name: Cloelia · behindthename.com · origin
Wiktionary: clueo · en.wiktionary.org · origin

Questions about the name Clélia

What does the name Clélia mean?

The meaning of Clélia is not known for certain: no reliable source documents it. So we give no meaning; the page shows the origin of the spelling and the official figures.

How many people are named Clélia in Brazil?

IBGE's 2022 Census recorded 9,260 people with the first name Clélia, which ranks it number 1,819 among the country's names. The largest group was born in the 1960s.

Is Clélia a boy's or a girl's name?

Clélia is a female name: in the 2022 Census, 9,224 women and 36 men had this name.

What is the origin of the name Clélia?

Clélia is a name of Latin origin. The sources are listed at the end of the page.

In which Brazilian state is Clélia most common?

Proportionally, in Rio Grande do Sul: 0.010% of the state's population is named Clélia (1,056 people), according to the 2022 Census.

More names of Latin origin

See all

Spotted a mistake? Report a correction for Clélia with a source. See the methodology.