Drucilla
A feminine name of Latin origin meaning "lame" or "little poor one".
Name Census estimates that about 1,481 living Americans carry the first name Drucilla. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Drucilla today is around 62 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Drucilla births was 1949 (83 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Drucilla. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
People living today
1.5K
~ 1 in 231,434 Americans
Peak year
1949
83 babies that year
Average age
62
years old
2024 SSA rank
#15,876
Tracked since 1880
Census
Drucilla in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,720 people with the first name Drucilla, which placed it at #8,431 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#8,431
National first-name rank
People counted
1.7K
1,720 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.6
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
52.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Drucilla
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Drucilla is White at 52.8%. The next largest groups are Black (36.4%) and Hispanic (5.8%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Drucilla described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Drucilla at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White52.8% · 908
- Black or African American36.4% · 626
- Hispanic or Latino5.8% · 99
- Two or more races2.8% · 48
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.2% · 20
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.1% · 19
Popularity
Drucilla: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Drucilla from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1940s, with 644 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1940s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Drucilla by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Drucilla during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Drucillas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 18 states and territories. Texas, Georgia, Kentucky recorded the most babies named Drucilla, while New York, Missouri, Massachusetts recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 40 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Drucilla
The name Drucilla has its origins in ancient Rome, derived from the Latin name "Drucilla" or "Drusillia". It is believed to have been a feminine form of the Roman family name "Drusus", which may have originated from the Gaulish word "dru" meaning "firm" or "strong".
One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Drucilla was in reference to a member of the Roman imperial family during the 1st century AD. Drucilla was the younger sister of the Roman emperor Caligula and was known for her beauty and scandalous reputation. She was married to Marcus Antonius Felix, a Roman procurator of Judea, and is mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles in the Bible.
Another notable Drucilla in Roman history was the daughter of the emperor Vespasian and the sister of the emperors Titus and Domitian. She lived during the 1st century AD and was known for her wealth and influence.
In the Middle Ages, the name Drucilla was rarely used, but it resurfaced during the Renaissance period. One of the earliest recorded instances of the name during this time was Drucilla Calcagnini, an Italian Renaissance humanist and poet who lived in the 15th century.
In the 17th century, Drucilla Hollingsworth was an English Puritan woman who was among the early settlers of the Massachusetts Bay Colony in North America. She was born around 1609 and died in 1678.
In the 19th century, Drucilla Ross was an American abolitionist and suffragist who worked alongside Frederick Douglass and Susan B. Anthony. She was born in 1824 and died in 1900.
Overall, while not a common name throughout history, Drucilla has been present in various cultures and time periods, with its earliest recorded use dating back to ancient Rome. Its association with notable historical figures, particularly in the Roman imperial family, has contributed to its enduring legacy.
People
Drucilla + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Drucilla as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with D
Other first names starting with D with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Drucilla: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Drucilla?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,481 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Drucilla going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 231,434 US residents.
Is Drucilla a common name?
We classify Drucilla as "Rare". It ranks above 92.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 3,572 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Drucilla most popular?
The single biggest year for Drucilla was 1949, when 83 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Drucilla is about 62 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Drucilla in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,720 people with the name Drucilla, or 0.57 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #8,431 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Drucilla in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Drucilla?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Drucilla appears almost entirely female. Of the 1,714 people counted with this name, 100.0% were female and only a very small share were male. The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Drucilla?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Drucilla is White at 52.8%. The next largest groups are Black (36.4%) and Hispanic (5.8%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Drucilla most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Drucilla in the 2020 Census, accounting for 52.8% (908 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Drucilla in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Drucilla a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Drucilla in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Drucilla still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Drucilla in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Drucilla can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How common is the name Drucilla?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.