girl's name
Chelsea
CHEL-see
- Origin English
- Gender Girl
- Syllables 2
- Letters 7
- Popularity Top 1000 (US)
- Births on record 193,622
the United States
#852
2025 births
Chelsea is a girl's name from a London district whose name means chalk landing place — a wharf where chalk was unloaded from boats on the Thames. It peaked in 1992 and charts in five markets.
- Chelsea is a name of English origin.
- Peaked in 1992, when 16,199 babies were given the name.
- It has been falling over the past decade.
- Today about 1 in 10,393 babies in the United States is given this name.
- First appears in US birth records in 1910.
- 2 syllables, with the stress on syllable 1.
Chelsea over time
Births per decade in the United States, 1910s to 2020s. The striped bar is the 2020s, still in progress — it covers 2020 to 2025, not a full ten years.
Show the numbers
| Decade | Births |
|---|---|
| 1910s | 49 |
| 1920s | 36 |
| 1930s | 20 |
| 1940s | 10 |
| 1950s | 36 |
| 1960s | 292 |
| 1970s | 3,511 |
| 1980s | 43,344 |
| 1990s | 84,969 |
| 2000s | 18,042 |
| 2010s | 10,613 |
| 2020s (to 2025) | 2,413 |
What Chelsea means
Chelsea means chalk landing place, or chalk wharf. The Old English joins the word for chalk to one for a landing stage on a river, so the name records a working riverside.
Where Chelsea comes from
Chelsea is a district of London, from the Old English cealc, chalk, joined to hyth, a landing place on a river — a wharf where chalk or limestone was unloaded. It appears in early records as Chelchith. The area became fashionable in the nineteenth century and gave its name to the flower show, the football club and the Chelsea bun. Its use as a given name is American and late twentieth-century, and it belongs with Sydney and Brooke among place and landscape names that became girls' names in the same period.
Chelsea in use
Chelsea peaked in the United States in 1992, when 16,199 babies were registered, and is falling in our data. It now ranks 461st in Northern Ireland, 668th in Ireland, 734th in France on 55 births, 852nd in the United States on 319 and 992nd in England and Wales on 35, across 193,622 lifetime births in six of the seven markets we track. Our records carry it from 1910 but almost all of its volume falls after 1980.
How popular is Chelsea?
In 2025, Chelsea was given to 319 babies in the United States, ranking #852 that year. It is a well-established, commonly used name.
Where Chelsea is used
US figures omit any name given to fewer than five babies in a year, so the rarest names are absent from the source rather than absent from use. Data & sources.
Names that peaked alongside Chelsea
These names rose and fell in the same era, which is why they tend to sound like they belong together.
Parents who like Chelsea also like
Names whose popularity has risen and fallen in step with Chelsea over the last century — the same taste, a different name.
Chelsea in other languages
The same name as it is spelled elsewhere — not shortenings, and not different names that merely sound alike. Each one has its own record here.
- Dutch
- Chelsey
Sibling names for Chelsea
Names from the same era that won't rhyme or share an initial with Chelsea — the two things that make a sibling set grate.
Common questions about Chelsea
What does the name Chelsea mean?
Chalk landing place — a wharf on the Thames where chalk was unloaded.
Is Chelsea named after the London district?
Yes, and the district's name is Old English, recorded early as Chelchith.
Is it Chelsea or Chelsey?
Chelsea follows the place name and is much the more common; Chelsey is a later respelling.
How popular is Chelsea?
852nd in the United States, down from a 1992 peak of 16,199 births.
Is Chelsea a girl's or a boy's name?
Chelsea is given almost entirely to girls in birth records.
How many syllables are in Chelsea?
Chelsea has 2 syllables.
Is Chelsea a good name?
That is not something records can settle, but they can tell you what you would be choosing. Chelsea currently ranks #461 in the United States. It has been falling over the past decade. Everything else — how it sounds with your surname, who it reminds you of — is yours.