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 [ 3 syll. pris-cil-la, pr-isci-lla ] The girl name Priscilla is pronounced as PRahSIHLah KEY. Priscilla is mainly used in the English, German, and Italian languages, and it is of Latin origin. Biblical name from the element 'priscus' meaning ancient, old. The first name is derived as a feminine diminutive of the Roman family name Priscus (Latin). The name was probably first bestowed to wish the bearer a long life. The name Prisca and Priscilla appear in the New Testament of the Bible, probably in reference to the same person, a woman companion whom Paul stayed with at Corinth. The name was also borne by the 1st century Saint Prisca, a young woman martyred under Claudius II. In literature, it first appeared in Edmund Spenser's The Faerie Queen (1596). The name was widely adopted by English Puritans in the 17th century, and it saw a revival in the 19th century. Priscilla has 19 variant forms that are used in both English and other languages. Variant forms of Priscilla used in English include Precilla, Prescilla, Pricilla, Priscila (used in Spanish too), Priss, Prissila, and Sila. The short forms Cilla, Pris, Prissy (used in Spanish too), and Scilla are other English variants. Foreign variant forms of Priscilla include the German Briska, the German Piroschka, the Hungarian Piroska, the Spanish Priscella, the French Priscille, the Spanish Prisilla, and the German Priska. Priscilla is a pet form of the English, German, Italian, and Spanish name Prisca in the English, German, and Italian languages. Priscilla is a classic favorite. At present it is still a fairly popular baby name for girls, though not to the extent it was in the past. The name rose in popularity from the 1900s up to the 1940s; prior to that, it was of occasional use only. Its usage peaked modestly in 1940 with 0.167% of baby girls being given the name Priscilla. Its ranking then was #127. The baby name has since experienced a decline in frequency. In 2008, its usage was 0.037% and its ranking #416, but it was nonetheless the most regularly used among all girl names in its group. Baby names that sound like Priscilla include the English and Spanish Priscila, the English Prescilla, the English Pricilla, the Spanish Prisilla, the English Prissila, the English Presley, and the French Priscille. A famous person named Priscilla is TV Presenter Cilla Black, born Priscilla Maria Veronica White, 27 May, 1943, Liverpool, England. KEY: Pronunciation for Priscilla: P as in "pee (P.IY)" ; R as in "read (R.IY.D)" ; AH as in "hut (HH.AH.T)" ; S as in "sea (S.IY)" ; IH as in "it (IH.T)" ; L as in "lee (L.IY)" ; AH as in "hut (HH.AH.T)"   |
