Priscilla

Latin, diminutive of Prisca
"ancient"

Priscilla Origin and Meaning

The name Priscilla is a girl's name of Latin origin meaning "ancient".

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.

# 656 in the US

Priscilla Rank in US Top 1000

# 378 on Nameberry

Priscilla Rank in Nameberry Top 1000

Priscilla Popularity

Famous People Named Priscilla

  • 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"