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Cordelia

#981 in 2025Girls' name

Meaning and deeper origin uncertain

Cordelia has been given to 12,906 babies in the U.S. since 1880. In 2025 it ranked #981 of 17,293 girls’ names in use. Its peak year was 2015, with 286 recorded.

Babies named Cordelia, 2025

1 in 12,800

Cordelia over time, 1880–2025

Girls
010020030018801900192019401960198020002020

Based on births in the U.S. Babies given the name each year. Hover the chart — or focus it and use the arrow keys — for any year. Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Cordelia: meaning, origin, and history

Meaning and deeper origin uncertain

Latin and English

What Cordelia means

Cordelia is a given name.

Dictionary etymologyReferences, data & attribution

Shakespeare's spelling of a historical British name appearing as Cordeilla, etc., possibly derived from the Latin saint's name Cordula.

Excerpt from Wiktionary: Cordelia (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Origin, language, and formation

Cordelia is used in English, Cebuano, Italian and Spanish. Its origins include Latin and English.

Pronunciation and spelling

In English, Cordelia is pronounced /kɔɹˈdili.ə/.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 12,906 girls were recorded with the name Cordelia between 1880 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 286 in 2015; its best national rank was #204 in 1880.

Over 5 years its rank rose, from #1,006 in 2020 to #981 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank fell, from #949 in 2015 to #981 in 2025.

How common is Cordelia?

Everything below is computed from the 2025 data — the most recent year available.

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 12,800
258 of 3,315,165 births
Among girls only
1 in 6,230
0.02% of girls
Rank, 2025
#981
of 17,293 girls’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
8,908 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Cordelia sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Olivia (13,544)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 2025 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.

Class of 20Under 1%
Class of 30Under 1%
Grade of 100Under 1%
School of 5004%

Put another way: gather 8,908 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Cordelia. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Cordelias were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Cordelia was born before 1961 — so the typical Cordelia is around 64 today.

Median birth year
1961
About 64 years old
Biggest decade
2010s
17.6% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
37.9%
Spread across generations
Recorded since 1950
7,348
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

2010s — 17.6% of all recorded uses (2,277).

Is Cordelia rising or falling?

Rank movement and count movement can disagree — the number of distinct names in use keeps growing, so a name holding a steady count still slides down the list. Both are shown.

Rank vs 1 year ago
+85
Places climbed
Rank vs 5 years ago
+25
Places climbed
Rank vs 10 years ago
−32
Places dropped
Births vs 10 years ago
0.90×
Fewer babies than then
Share of its own peak
90.2%
Peak was 2015 (286)
Years since peak
10
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Steady
11.7% average annual change
Best rank ever
#204
1880

Spellings of Cordelia

Cordelia is not the most common spelling — Cornelia is, with 51.2% against Cordelia's 29.9%.

Grouped by closeness of spelling (up to two letter changes), same sex, with a floor on all-time use. It catches Sophia/Sofia and Aiden/Ayden, and misses spellings that sound alike but look different, like Sean and Shawn.

Where Cordelia is used

Across 2016–2025, Cordelia was most concentrated in Oregon — about 1 in 2,632 girls, against 1 in 6,638 across all states with data. It was least common in Georgia (1 in 25,000).

438 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1Oregon1 in 2,632
  2. 2Massachusetts1 in 3,448
  3. 3Washington1 in 3,846
  4. 4Ohio1 in 4,167
  5. 5Wisconsin1 in 4,167
  6. 6Pennsylvania1 in 4,545
  7. 7Tennessee1 in 4,545
  8. 8Virginia1 in 4,762

Shading is the share of that state's recorded girls given this name, not the raw count — otherwise the map would just show which states are biggest. Unshaded states have no published records for this period. U.S. birth records suppress state-year counts below 5; state counts therefore don't add up to the national total. Every state links to its full rankings.

Cordelia around the world

Where Cordelia ranks in official birth records elsewhere in the world. Rankings only — the number of births isn’t comparable between places, so it isn’t shown.

  • England & Wales
    1996–2025
    #650
    in 2025
  • Scotland
    2005–2020
    #765
    in 2020
  • Ireland
    2001–2001
    #606
    in 2001
  • France
    1903–2025
    #3,410
    in 2025
  • Canada
    1994–2024
    #1,286
    in 2024
  • South Australia
    1947–2012
    #871
    in 2012

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, National Records of Scotland, Central Statistics Office, Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques, Statistics Canada and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS, NRS data under Open Government Licence v3.0. CSO, CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0. INSEE data under Licence Ouverte / Etalab 2.0. StatCan data under Statistics Canada Open Licence.

Notable people named Cordelia

People whose public names include Cordelia, backed by Wikidata given-name records and ordered by linked Wikimedia pages. The name may be a middle name.

People data from Wikidata (CC0). Fame is measured, not judged — the order reflects how widely each person is documented, not the U.S. birth records popularity this page is otherwise about.

Cordelia by the numbers

The raw record for each sex the name is used for.

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
#981
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Up 25
Best rank ever
#204
1880
Peak year
2015
286 that year
First recorded
1880
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
12,906
Count in 2025
258

Names similar to Cordelia

Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.

CorneliaCoralineCorrineCorinnaCorrinaCorinaNathaliaMagnoliaCorrieCorinneRosaliaCoralieCortneyCoraleeMigdaliaAureliaCoralCoraliaAngeliaCamelliaCoreyOpheliaCoralynnEmelia

Names with a curve like Cordelia

Not spelling — timing. These names rose, peaked and faded in the same years as Cordelia, so they read as being from the same moment even when they look nothing alike.

VedaLucieLouisaVidaAdelaMinaVadaAdeliaZoraRheaIraNola

Sibling names for Cordelia

Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.

Explore around Cordelia

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