Sibyl
About Sibyl
The original but less common spelling of Sybil, this name comes from Greek and Roman mythology, in which the sibyls were female prophets. A name that has dipped in and out of style since the Middle Ages, the rise of the lovely Lady Sybil Crawley on television's Downton Abbey may shine a light on this mythological name.
Introduced by the Normans, thrown out by the Puritans, revived by the Victorians, and rejected again in the 70s, when a book and TV film linked it to dissociative identity disorder in popular culture, sister spelling Sybil is now a Nameberry gem. It has featured in the Top 200 names on Nameberry and celebrated as a clunky, literary, vintage revival.
In the real world, Sybil has recently joined the England and Wales Top 1000, while in the US, 136 girls were given the name last year. Sibyl meanwhile is outside the Nameberry Top 1000 and was given to 11 American girls and fewer than 3 in the UK. For the sake of ease, the Sybil spelling might be the better choice, given that the name is already quite unique.
Pronounced SIB-ul.
As of October 2026, Sibyl ranked #5537 in US births in 2025 SSA, peaked at #376 in 1919.
Editor: Pamela Redmond
Sources: US popularity data is from the Social Security Administration. Meanings and origins are from Nameberry's name references.
Popularity & trends
Data table
| Year | US rank | Births | Per million |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | — | 0 | 0 |
| 2015 | — | 0 | 0 |
| 2016 | — | 0 | 0 |
| 2017 | — | 0 | 0 |
| 2018 | — | 0 | 0 |
| 2019 | — | 0 | 0 |
| 2020 | — | 0 | 0 |
| 2021 | — | 0 | 0 |
| 2022 | — | 0 | 0 |
| 2023 | — | 0 | 0 |
| 2024 | — | 0 | 0 |
| 2025 | — | 0 | 0 |
Similar names
These 20 names were selected by our users looking for other names like Sibyl.
- Honora
- Sigrid
- Flavia
- Apolline
- Heloise
- Odile
- Philomena
- Hildegard
- Ginevra
- Salome
- Drusilla
- Hester
- Raphaela
- Junia
- Delphina
- Clemence
- Isabeau
- Hildegarde
- Shoshana
- Antigone
Sibyl on lists
Famous Sibyls
- Sibyl Ludington
American revolutionary
- Sibyl Sanderson
American operatic soprano
- Sibyl Buck
American musician and model
- Sibyl Mary Hathaway
Dame of Sark
- Sibyl
Lady Colefax, English interior decorator and socialite
- Sibyl Moholy
Nagy, German art historian and author; wife of artist László Moholy,Nagy
- Sibyl Enid Vera Munro Morrison
first woman barrister in New South Wales, Australia
Sibyl in pop culture
- Sibyl Vane
Dorian's love interest in Oscar Wilde's "The Picture of Dorian Gray"
- The Sibyls
oracular women believed to possess prophetic powers in ancient Greece and Rome. From Greek Sibylla, of uncertain origin (said to be from Doric Siobolla, from Attic Theoboule "divine wish")
- The Temple of the Sibyl
Poland's first museum (est. 1801); contained objects "pertaining to the glories and miseries of human life"
- Sebile
alternatively written as Sedile, Sebille, Sibilla, Sibyl and other similar names, is a mythical medieval queen or princess who is frequently portrayed as a fairy or enchantress in the Arthurian legends and in Italian folklore