Sybil
2025 SSA
Below 5 births
About Sybil
The image of the lovely Lady Sybil, tragic youngest daughter of the Crawley family on Downton Abbey is likely to go a long way towards reviving this almost forgotten name, off the list since 1966 and most popular in the 1920s and '30s.
Sybil is the most common spelling of a name which the Ancient Greeks used as the generic word for a prophetess--a woman who claimed to be able to interpret the wishes of the gods through their oracles. The term was later transferred into Christian theology where the sibyls were celebrated as having divine knowledge, which in turn brought the name into common use in the Middle ages.
Benjamin Disraeli wrote an influential political novel titled Sybil, which increased the popularity of the name in Victorian times, its use having suffered after the Protestant Reformation. More recently however, the name was severely undermined by the eponymous book and 1976 movie based on the character of Sybil-- played by Sally Field-- whose multiple personalities have now been confessed as fake.
There is also a Sybil in Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray and Sybill Trelawney is a witch and seer in the Harry Potter books, a Professor of Divination played on screen by Emma Thompson. Actress Cybill Shepherd, on the other hand, bears an invented name combining those of her Uncle Cy and Dad Bill.
Clunky-cute-and-cool, Sybil is a Nameberry gem, ranking in the Top 200 - and this popularity is beginning to reflect on the real world. Back in 2012, Sybil was given to less than 20 girls a year in the US; by 2013, it was chosen for nearly 70 -- and the most recent count, 136 girls were called Sybil, making it similar in popularity to Daenerys and Yesenia.
Sybil is also given to boys.
Pronounced SIB-ul.
As of October 2026, Sybil ranked #1426 in US births in 2025 SSA, peaked at #282 in 1919, Nameberry popularity #101.
Popularity & trends
Data table
| Year | US rank · girls | Births · girls | US rank · boys | Births · boys |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | #2,211 | 86 | — | 0 |
| 2015 | #2,122 | 91 | — | 0 |
| 2016 | #1,907 | 106 | — | 0 |
| 2017 | #1,853 | 111 | — | 0 |
| 2018 | #1,865 | 109 | — | 0 |
| 2019 | #1,707 | 123 | — | 0 |
| 2020 | #1,907 | 101 | — | 0 |
| 2021 | #1,692 | 123 | — | 0 |
| 2022 | #1,502 | 145 | — | 0 |
| 2023 | #1,449 | 154 | — | 0 |
| 2024 | #1,564 | 136 | — | 0 |
| 2025 | #1,426 | 152 | — | 0 |
World rankings
Sybil for girls
Similar names
These 20 names were selected by our users looking for other names like Sybil.
Sybil on lists
Famous Sybils
- Sybil DorsetGirl
pseudonym of Shirley Ardell Mason, American woman with multiple personality disorder ,, now confessed as fake ,, portrayed in the book and film "Sybil"
- Sybil LudingtonGirl
American Revolutionary war heroine
- (Agnes) Sybil ThorndikeGirl
English actress
- Sybil Danning (born Sybille Johanna Danninger)Girl
Austrian actress
- Sybil (Lynch)Girl
American pop singer
- Sybil LeekGirl
English witch, astrologer, occult author and self,proclaimed psychic
- Sybil Lorina BauerGirl
American Olympic swimmer
- Sybil GreyGirl
British singer and actress
- Sybil ConnollyGirl
Irish fashion designer
- Sybil Rachel Betty Cecile SassoonGirl
Marchioness of Cholmondeley, British WWII military officer
- Sybil SeelyGirl
American silent film actress
- SybilGirl
wife of English courtier Pain fitzJohn
- Sybil Ann Melvin (b. 2016)Girl
daughter of American journalist and new anchor Craig Melvin and American sports anchor and reporter Lindsay Czarniak
Sybil in pop culture
- Sybil VaneGirl
character in Oscar Wilde's "The Picture of Dorian Gray", a beautiful actress who dies a tragic death
- Sybil Crawley BransonGirl
character on TV's "Downton Abbey"
- Sybil FawltyGirl
character on TV's "Fawlty Towers"
- Sybil GerardGirl
character in "Sybil" (1845) by Benjamin Disraeli
- Sybil HallowGirl
character on TV's "The Worst Witch"
- Sybil TrelawneyGirl
character in the Harry Potter series
- Sybil VimesGirl
wife of Sam Vimes in the Discworld series by Terry Pratchett
- SybilGirl
villain/siren in The Vampire Diaries
- Sybil MiraGirl
Character from The Lunar Chronicles series by Marissa Meyer