Priscilla
Top 1000
About Priscilla
Despite her somewhat prissy, puritanical air, Priscilla has managed to stay widely used for well over a century -- it reached as high as Number 127 in 1940 -- appreciated for its delicacy and solid history.
A New Testament name, it was Priscilla with whom the apostle Paul stayed while spreading the gospel in Corinth. It was common in the ancient Roman world and later was a favorite of the seventeenth century Puritans. Priscilla Mullins (Alden), remembered for her co-starring role in Longfellow's poem The Courtship of Miles Standish, making Priscilla one of the perfect Thanksgiving baby names. There was also a sympathetic Priscilla in Hawthorne's The Blithedale Romance.
The most conspicuous contemporary bearer of the name is Priscilla Presley, and it's what J. R. R. Tolkien named his only daughter.
If you find the nickname Prissy too prissy, you could use the British-inflected Cilla.
As of October 2026, Priscilla ranked #544 in US births in 2025 SSA, peaked at #127 in 1940, Nameberry popularity #378.
Editor's take: The name Priscilla is a girl's name of Latin origin meaning "ancient".
Popularity & trends
Data table
| Year | US rank | Births | Per million |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | #483 | 652 | 365 |
| 2015 | #501 | 635 | 355.7 |
| 2016 | #476 | 669 | 377.5 |
| 2017 | #526 | 592 | 342.9 |
| 2018 | #577 | 535 | 314.5 |
| 2019 | #618 | 487 | 290.2 |
| 2020 | #562 | 523 | 323.5 |
| 2021 | #625 | 477 | 290.7 |
| 2022 | #713 | 411 | 250.6 |
| 2023 | #652 | 451 | 281.1 |
| 2024 | #615 | 484 | 298.7 |
| 2025 | #544 | 555 | 345.3 |
World rankings
Similar names
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Famous Priscillas
- Priscilla
Biblical missionary married to Aquila
- Priscilla Mullins Alden
wife of American Plymouth colonist John Alden
- (Elizabeth) Priscilla Cooper Tyler
acting First Lady of the U.S. as daughter,in,law of President John Tyler
- Priscilla Jane Owens (1829
1899), hymnist
- Priscilla Lexandro
French,American daughter of Khloe Lexandro
- Priscilla Ann Presley
American actress; ex,wife of Elvis
- Priscilla Marie "CeCe" Winans
American gospel singer
- Priscilla Morrill
American actress
- Priscilla Natalie Ahn
American singer/songwriter
- Priscilla Chan
American physician; wife of Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg
- Priscilla Richman Owen
U.S. federal judge
- Priscilla Martel
American baker and cookbook author
- Priscilla Lane
American singer/actress of The Lane Sisters
- Priscilla Florencio
Brazilian pop singer
- Priscilla Lopez
American singer and actress
- Préscillia "Priscilla" Betti
French singer and actress
- Priscilla Marie Pointer
American actress
- Priscilla Kemble
English stage actress
- Priscilla Horton
English stage actress
- Priscilla Chan (Wai
han), Hong Kong pop singer
- Priscilla Barnes
American actress
- Priscilla "Cilla" Robertson
daughter of Jep and Jessica Robertson of reality TV's "Duck Dynasty"
- Priscilla Lee Taylor
American model, actress & Playboy Playmate
Priscilla in pop culture
- "The Adventures of Priscilla
Queen of the Desert," 1994 Australian film
- Priscilla
Jean Henrietta "Tulip" O'Hare, character in DC Universe's "Preacher"
- Priscilla
character in anime "Claymore"
- Priscilla Parsons
a bully in the "St Clare" book series by Enid Blyton
- Priscilla
"Mrs. Jellaby's maid, given to drink" in Bleak House (1854) by Charles Dickens
- Priscilla Moody
Zenobia's pale but interesting younger sister in "The Blithedale Romance" (1852) by Nathaniel Hawthorne
- Priscilla Sefton
a Methodist preacher's daughter; wife of Richard Orchardson in "God and the Man" (1881) by Robert Buchanan
- Priscilla
song by Sea Wolf
- Priscilla McAlistair
from Paul Shapera's musical "Dolls of New Albion"
Variations & nicknames
- PiriHungarian
- PriscaFrench
- PriscilaSpanish
- PrisillaSpanish
- PiroskaHungarian
- PriscilleFrench
More nicknames
- Kitty