Drusilla
Feminine given name of obscure origin meaning "small and sweet".
Name Census estimates that about 1,290 living Americans carry the first name Drusilla. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Drusilla today is around 61 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Drusilla births was 1955 (88 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Drusilla. 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
1.3K
~ 1 in 265,701 Americans
Peak year
1955
88 babies that year
Average age
61
years old
2024 SSA rank
#12,475
Tracked since 1880
Popularity
Drusilla: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Drusilla from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1950s, with 622 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1950s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Drusilla 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 Drusilla during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Drusillas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 15 states and territories. New York, California, Texas recorded the most babies named Drusilla, while Massachusetts, Kentucky, Alabama recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 21 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Drusilla
The name Drusilla is derived from the Latin word "drusus", which means "fruitful" or "fertile". It originated in ancient Rome and was initially used as a cognomen, or a third name, in the gens Livia family.
The first known person to bear the name Drusilla was Livia Drusilla, born around 58 BC. She was the daughter of a Roman nobleman and became the third wife of the Roman emperor Augustus. Their marriage was a political alliance, but Drusilla was said to be a powerful and influential figure in the imperial court.
Another notable Drusilla was Julia Drusilla, born in 16 AD. She was the daughter of the Roman emperor Germanicus and Agrippina the Elder. Drusilla was said to be beautiful and intelligent, and she was deeply loved by her brother, the future emperor Caligula. Tragically, she died at a young age, and Caligula was devastated by her death.
In the first century AD, there was also a Drusilla who was the youngest daughter of King Herod Agrippa I. She is mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles in the Bible, where she and her husband, the Roman governor Felix, listened to the apostle Paul's teachings about Christianity. However, Drusilla remained unconverted.
Another notable Drusilla was Drusilla of Mauretania, who lived in the first century AD. She was the daughter of the Berber king Juba II and the princess Cleopatra Selene. Drusilla married the Roman emperor Antoninus Pius and became a prominent figure in the imperial court.
In the third century AD, there was a Christian martyr named Drusilla who was beheaded during the persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire. She is venerated as a saint in some Christian traditions.
Throughout history, the name Drusilla has been used by various individuals, including Drusilla Blackwood (1688-1749), an English naturalist and botanist; Drusilla Hendricks (1836-1914), an American educator and suffragist; and Drusilla Dunjee Houston (1876-1941), a prominent African American journalist and activist.
People
Drusilla + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Drusilla 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
Drusilla: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Drusilla?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,290 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Drusilla 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 265,701 US residents.
Is Drusilla a common name?
We classify Drusilla as "Rare". It ranks above 91.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,930 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Drusilla most popular?
The single biggest year for Drusilla was 1955, when 88 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Drusilla is about 61 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Drusilla a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Drusilla 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.
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.