Meaning and history
Chelsea is a name taken from a district in London whose original meaning was “landing place for chalk or limestone,” from Old English cealc meaning “chalk, limestone, plaster” and hyð meaning “port, landing place.” It was very rare until the late 1960s, when it likely gained use through actress Chelsea Brown (1942–2017; born Lois), who began appearing on television in 1968, and Joni Mitchell’s 1969 song Chelsea Morning. Its popularity rose sharply after the 1981 film On Golden Pond featured a character with this name, but it is now declining.
20062006: 1,824 births, rank #192
2007: 1,644 births, rank #209
2008: 1,518 births, rank #222
2009: 1,429 births, rank #232
2010: 1,417 births, rank #223
20112011: 1,425 births, rank #222
2012: 1,356 births, rank #235
2013: 1,179 births, rank #271
2014: 1,196 births, rank #275
2015: 1,057 births, rank #309
20162016: 933 births, rank #354
2017: 818 births, rank #381
2018: 664 births, rank #471
2019: 557 births, rank #545
2020: 449 births, rank #644
20212021: 466 births, rank #635
2022: 424 births, rank #693
2023: 397 births, rank #712
2024: 358 births, rank #787
20252025: 319 births, rank #851
Chelsea moved from #787 to #851 for girls between 2024 and 2025. Its highest annual birth count came in 1992, with 16,177 births.