Priscilla
Feminine · “ancient”
Priscilla is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 122,796 girls against 244 boys since 1880.
Priscilla comes from the Latin household name Priscus and arrives in English through the New Testament, where a woman called Priscilla works alongside her husband Aquila in Paul's letters. Puritan families carried it across the Atlantic, and Longfellow gave it another turn in the nineteenth century with "The Courtship of Miles Standish." Four syllables that settle into a soft middle and a light landing: pri-SIL-uh.
How old is the name Priscilla?
Priscilla was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Priscilla alive today was born around 1966, making them about 59 years old. About 92,000 people named Priscilla are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Priscilla most popular?
Priscilla peaked in 1940, reaching #127 nationally. Today it ranks #544, 417 places below that high. See the whole 1940 chart.
Priscilla appears on these lists:
Where it comes from
From Priscus to Priscilla
The story of Priscilla
The Roman family name Priscus produced the feminine Prisca, and Prisca produced the affectionate diminutive Priscilla. Both forms appear in the New Testament for the same woman — Paul writes Prisca, Acts writes Priscilla — which is why the longer form traveled so far in Christian Europe. English-speaking Protestants took it up after the Reformation, when scripture became a naming source in its own right, and it went with Puritan settlers to New England; one of the best-known Plymouth colonists of that generation bore it. Longfellow's 1858 narrative poem "The Courtship of Miles Standish" put that colonial Priscilla back in front of Victorian readers, and the name has been in continuous American use ever since.
Meaning
ancient, venerable
A Latin diminutive of Priscus, "former" or "of old" — literally something closer to "little venerable one." The affectionate -illa ending is the same one behind Camilla and Domitilla.
How the name formed
- Priscus
- Prisca
- Priscilla
Related forms: Priscila · Priscila · Priscilla · Priscille · Prisca · Priskilla
Pronouncing Priscilla
pri-SIL-uh
Stress on the second syllable. The double L is pronounced as a single L in English; in Spanish and Portuguese the name is spelled with one L and one S — Priscila — and pronounced pree-SEE-la.
Nicknames for Priscilla
High
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
- 1880
- Most girls named
- 19421,988 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #127reached in 1940
- Change vs 2022
- +35.0%555 in 2025, from 411
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.
Priscilla in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Priscila in Spanish — spelling variant
- Priscila in Portuguese — spelling variant
- Priscilla in Italian — same name
- Priscille in French — related form
- Prisca in Latin — related form
- Priskilla in Greek — transliteration
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, Florida.
Priscillas among us
people named Priscilla are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 2,896 born in 2025 was named Priscilla
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Priscilla
- #544
- Priscilla on the 2025 chart
- #430
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Priscilla went to 555 girls in 2025, but Priscila, Pricilla and Pricila 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 — 114 places above the chart.
About 1 girl in 2,443 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 2,896 for Priscilla 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 Olga test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Priscilla's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Olga climbed just as high around 1916, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Olga's path sketches the road Priscilla is walking now.
Priscilla 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
Where Priscilla is headed
Priscilla should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
High confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Priscilla beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Priscilla in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- A documented line from Roman Latin through the New Testament to the present, with no gaps to explain.
- Recognized across English, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian and French, with only a one-letter shift between them.
- Several established short forms — Cilla, Pri, Pris — none of them invented on the spot.
- Familiar to nearly everyone by ear, yet a child is unlikely to share it with a classmate.
- "Prissy" is both a natural short form and an ordinary English adjective for prim or fussy. Most families simply steer toward Cilla or Pri, but it is worth knowing the word is there.
- Spelling gets tested regularly: one S, two Ls, and the Spanish and Portuguese Priscila has neither doubled. Expect to spell it aloud, and expect Pricilla on some forms.
- It is still strongly represented among older generations, so some people will place it with adults rather than with children — though the same steadiness means it has never dropped out of use or become a period costume.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Priscilla to the vote.
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What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Priscilla
Feminine · #544 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Priscillas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 92,000 people named Priscilla are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Priscilla?
- Priscilla is the most-used spelling in US records — 555 of the 658 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Priscila, Pricilla and Pricila.
- How popular is the name Priscilla in 2025?
- Priscilla ranks #544 among US girl names in 2025, with 555 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Priscilla?
- About 1 in every 2,896 US girls born in 2025 was named Priscilla — 555 in all.
- Will my child share the name Priscilla with classmates?
- Priscilla will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Priscilla
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Everlee#545 · Heaven#543 · April#542 · Kyomi#546 · Angel#546 · Capri#546 · Cassidy#541 · Danielle#549
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Priscilla? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Priscilla and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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