Prisilla
Feminine · “Little ancient one”
Prisilla is Priscilla without the silent c, and that c was only ever doing what it does in science and scissors: nothing you can hear. The name has a firm place in American memory as the Mayflower girl who told a tongue-tied suitor to speak for himself.
How old is the name Prisilla?
Prisilla first appears in US birth records in 1963 — 62 years ago. The typical Prisilla alive today was born around 1997, making them about 28 years old. About 600 people named Prisilla are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Prisilla most popular?
Prisilla peaked in 1982, reaching #4167 nationally. See the whole 1982 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Prisca to Prisilla
The story of Prisilla
Priscilla appears in the New Testament as a tentmaker and teacher who worked with Paul, and Puritan families took the name to New England. Priscilla Mullins came over on the Mayflower in 1620 and married John Alden; two centuries later Henry Wadsworth Longfellow turned the family story into 'The Courtship of Miles Standish', in which Alden comes to court her on his captain's behalf and she answers, 'Why don't you speak for yourself, John?' In English the letters sc before i or e usually make a single s sound, as in science and scene, so the c in Priscilla is silent; Prisilla simply leaves it out.
Meaning
Little ancient one, a spelling of Priscilla
Priscilla is a Latin diminutive of Prisca, from priscus, 'ancient, of former times'.
How the name formed
- Prisca
- Priscilla
- Prisilla
Related forms: Priscilla · Priscilla · Priscila · Priscilla
Pronouncing Prisilla
prih-SIL-uh
Three syllables with the stress on the second, exactly like Priscilla.
Nicknames for Prisilla
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
- 1963
- Most girls named
- 200229 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #4167reached in 1982
- Change vs 2013
- −16.7%5 in 2015, 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.
Prisilla in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Priscilla in Latin — same name
- Priscilla in Italian — same name
- Priscila in Spanish — spelling variant
- Priscilla in English — spelling variant
Prisillas among us
people named Prisilla are estimated to be alive in the US today
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
Questions parents actually ask
Fashion outlook
Prisilla sits outside the current charts, and that is its own kind of answer: naming cycles can only date the names they carried up. A name this rare has no decade stamped on it — it cannot go out of fashion, because it was never in.
Based on 146 years of naming cycles. How we read them
The trade-off
- Sounds exactly like Priscilla, a name with deep roots in American history.
- Spelled the way it sounds, with no silent letter.
- A settled Latin meaning that is easy to explain.
- Priscilla is the spelling everyone knows, so Prisilla will be corrected, sometimes as a mistake.
- The traditional nickname, Prissy, now means fussy and prim, so families often steer toward Cilla instead.
- Spanish speakers write it Priscila with one l, which may add a second correction.
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What they receive
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Prisilla
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Prisillas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 600 people named Prisilla are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Prisilla in 2025?
- Prisilla is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Prisilla with classmates?
- Prisilla will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More P names
The most-given names starting with P, all years combined.
Patricia#1334 · Pamela#2239 · Phyllis#11932 · Peggy#8362 · Paula#853 · Pauline#2957 · Pearl#776 · Paige#346
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Prisilla? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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