Pricila
Feminine · “of former times”
Priscilla means old-fashioned. The Latin priscus describes what belongs to former times — antique, venerable, of the old sort — and Prisca and Priscilla were ordinary Roman names built on it. Pricila is the Spanish simplification, with one c and one l where English carries two of each, which is what Spanish does to Latin doubles as a matter of course.
How old is the name Pricila?
Pricila first appears in US birth records in 1980 — 45 years ago. The typical Pricila alive today was born around 2003, making them about 22 years old. About 1,100 people named Pricila are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Pricila most popular?
Pricila peaked in 2002, reaching #2081 nationally. Today it ranks #13208, 11,127 places below that high. See the whole 2002 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From priscus to Pricila
The story of Pricila
Prisca and Priscilla were both in use in the Roman world, and the name reached Christian Europe through the New Testament. English Protestants took it up in the sixteenth century, and it became one of the standard Puritan names in America. Spanish uses Priscila, with the single consonants that Spanish spelling requires — the language simply does not double c or l in that position, since ll is a separate letter with a different sound. Pricila drops one more, and American records show it from 1980, concentrated in Spanish-speaking families.
Meaning
of former times, venerable
From the Latin priscus, ancient or old-fashioned, through the family name Priscus and its feminine Prisca. Priscilla is the diminutive — so, strictly, little old one, which Roman families evidently found affectionate rather than rude.
How the name formed
- priscus
- Prisca
- Priscilla
- Pricila
Related forms: Priscila · Priscila · Priscilla · Priscilla
Pronouncing Pricila
pree-SEE-lah
Three syllables, stress in the middle. In Latin America the c before i is a plain s. English speakers say prih-SILL-uh, with a shorter first vowel and a doubled l they can hear even when it is not written.
Nicknames for Pricila
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1980
- Most girls named
- 200282 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2081reached in 2002
- Change vs 2022
- 0.0%6 in 2025, from 6
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Pricila in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Priscila in Spanish — spelling variant
- Priscila in Portuguese — same name
- Priscilla in Latin — same name
- Priscilla in Italian — same name
Pricilas among us
people named Pricila are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 267,878 born in 2025 was named Pricila
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Pricila
- #13208
- Pricila on the 2025 chart
- #430
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Pricila went to 6 girls in 2025, but Priscilla, Priscila and Pricilla are the same name said out loud. Together the 4 spellings went to 658, which makes it the 430th most-given girls’ name of the year — 12,778 places above the chart.
About 1 girl in 2,443 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 267,878 for Pricila itself.
Spellings are grouped by a fixed rule that folds interchangeable English spellings of one sound (ck/k, ph/f, x/ks, a non-initial y for i) and keeps vowels apart, so Sean and Shawn stay separate names. It errs towards splitting: a family here is never larger than the truth. SSA national data, 2025. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Rashelle test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Pricila's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Rashelle climbed just as high around 1984, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Rashelle's path sketches the road Pricila is walking now.
Pricila sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Pricila beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Pricila in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- It is the Spanish spelling convention rather than an American simplification.
- The meaning is documented, unusual and rather charming for a Roman name.
- Three open syllables that sit well after almost any surname.
- It works in Spanish and English without respelling.
- Priscilla and Priscila are both commoner and will be written instead.
- Pris, the obvious English short form, sits close to a word about primness.
- The name means old-fashioned, which is a genuinely funny thing to have to explain.
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What they receive
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Pricila
Feminine · #13208 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Pricilas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,100 people named Pricila are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Pricila?
- Pricila is one of 4 recorded spellings. Priscilla is the more common one — 555 births in 2025 against 6 for Pricila.
- How popular is the name Pricila in 2025?
- Pricila ranks #13208 among US girl names in 2025, with 6 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Pricila?
- About 1 in every 267,878 US girls born in 2025 was named Pricila — 6 in all.
- Will my child share the name Pricila with classmates?
- Pricila will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Pricila
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
John#13208 · Vinnie#13208 · Margery#13208 · Jossie#13208 · Tressa#13208 · Erie#13208 · Bernadine#13208 · Euna#13208
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Pricila? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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