Prisicilla
A feminine name derived from Latin meaning "ancient" or "venerable".
Name Census estimates that about 6 living Americans carry the first name Prisicilla. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Prisicilla today is around 56 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Prisicilla births was 1972 (7 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Prisicilla. 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.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Prisicilla. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
6
~ 1 in 57,125,723 Americans
Peak year
1972
7 babies that year
Average age
56
years old
1972 SSA rank
#7,072
Tracked since 1972
Popularity
Prisicilla: popularity over time
Babies born per year
Decades
Prisicilla 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 Prisicilla during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
| Decade | Male | Female | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1970s | 0 | 7 | 7 |
Origin
Meaning and history of Prisicilla
The name Priscilla has its origins in the Latin language and is derived from the ancient Roman family name Prisca, which meant "ancient" or "venerable." The name Prisca was a common name among Roman women during the time of the Roman Empire.
The name Priscilla first gained prominence in the Bible, where it was the name of an early Christian woman who lived in Corinth and is mentioned in the Book of Acts and the Epistle to the Romans. Priscilla and her husband Aquila were tentmakers who travelled with the Apostle Paul and helped to spread Christianity in the early days of the faith.
One of the earliest known bearers of the name Priscilla was Priscilla of Rome, who lived in the 1st century AD and was a member of the Roman nobility. She is believed to have been a Christian and is venerated as a saint by the Catholic Church.
In the Middle Ages, the name Priscilla was popularized by the legend of Saint Priscilla, a Roman noblewoman who is said to have been martyred for her Christian faith during the reign of the Emperor Claudius in the 1st century AD. The legend of Saint Priscilla became widely known throughout Europe and helped to spread the popularity of the name.
One of the most famous historical figures named Priscilla was Priscilla Mullins, who was a passenger on the Mayflower and one of the earliest English settlers in the Plymouth Colony in 1620. She married John Alden and had 10 children, helping to establish one of the earliest American families.
Another notable Priscilla was Priscilla Wakefield, an English author and philanthropist who lived from 1751 to 1832. She wrote several popular books for children and was also an advocate for prison reform and the abolition of slavery.
In the 19th century, Priscilla was a popular name among the Puritans in America, and several notable women bore the name, including Priscilla Cadwalader Jones, a pioneer in the field of public health who lived from 1838 to 1919, and Priscilla Hollingsworth, a leader in the women's suffrage movement who lived from 1854 to 1944.
Other famous Priscillas throughout history include Priscilla Presley, the former wife of Elvis Presley, who was born in 1945, and Priscilla Chan, the wife of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, who was born in 1985.
People
Prisicilla + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Prisicilla as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with P
Other first names starting with P with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Prisicilla: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Prisicilla?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 6 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Prisicilla 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 57,125,723 US residents.
Is Prisicilla a common name?
We classify Prisicilla as "Very Rare". It ranks above 22.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 7 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Prisicilla most popular?
The single biggest year for Prisicilla was 1972, when 7 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Prisicilla is about 56 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Prisicilla a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Prisicilla 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.