A male name. Latin Caecilius, the name of a Roman plebeian gens, from the root of caecus ‘blind'. There was a 3rd-C saint Caecilius, and Cecil was not uncommon in England in the Middle Ages, though much less common than the corresponding f. name. The present widespread revival dates back only to the end of the last century, and is a use of the family name of the Marquis of Salisbury, which was itself originally derived from the christian name.

Ultimately from Latin cœcus, blind, it derives from the Caecilian ‘gens’; and, in actual practice, it may be described as the m. of Cecilia. In England, Cecil was originally a very aristocratic surname (cf. Howard and Percy), a fact that soon led to its adoption as a baptismal name.

A male name derived from the Latin Cecilius or Cæcilius, a diminutive of cœcus, blind. Cecil is also found as a female name. An ancestor of the Earl of Shrewsbury married Cecil, daughter and heiress of Charles Matthews, Esq., of Castley Menich; and the name has also been given to daughters of that house since then. Conf. N. Q. 5th S. vi. 491; viii. 237; and Camden’s Remains, “Britannia,” p. 767.

A Latin name, meaning: Blind.