Cece is a diminutive of Cecilia or Cecily, names from Latin Caecilius, traditionally linked with blindness.
Cece is most commonly a diminutive of Cecilia or Cecily, names that descend from the ancient Roman family name Caecilius, itself derived from the Latin "caecus" meaning "blind." The apparent modesty of that etymology belies an extraordinary legacy: Saint Cecilia, a Roman martyr of the second or third century CE, became one of the most venerated saints in the Christian calendar and the patron saint of music and musicians, supposedly because she sang to God in her heart while the wedding instruments played around her. Her feast day, November 22nd, has been celebrated since the sixteenth century with sacred music concerts across the Catholic world.
Cecilia and Cecily were common in medieval England — Cecily Neville, mother of Edward IV and Richard III, was one of the most powerful women in fifteenth-century England — and the names carried forward into the modern era with consistent but never overwhelming popularity. As a standalone name, Cece emerged from the nickname tradition and gained cultural traction in the twentieth century. Contemporary usage has been bolstered by characters in popular culture: Cece in the American sitcom "New Girl" (played by Hannah Simone) gave the name a warm, funny, fashionable face for a generation of viewers.
Cece today reads as affectionate and vivid — a name that feels like a nickname even when it's the given name, which is part of its charm. It has the repetitive phoneme structure (like Mimi, Lulu, or Coco) that psychologists have found consistently appealing across cultures, suggesting warmth and approachability.