Cyrilla
A feminine given name possibly derived from the Greek name Cyrillus.
Name Census estimates that about 125 living Americans carry the first name Cyrilla. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Cyrilla today is around 53 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Cyrilla births was 1917 (26 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Cyrilla. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Cyrilla with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
125
~ 1 in 2,742,035 Americans
Peak year
1917
26 babies that year
Average age
53
years old
2024 SSA rank
#12,413
Tracked since 1895
Census
Cyrilla in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 279 people with the first name Cyrilla, which placed it at #30,942 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#30,942
National first-name rank
People counted
279
279 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
67.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Cyrilla
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Cyrilla is White at 67.4%. The next largest groups are Black (12.9%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (7.9%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Cyrilla described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Cyrilla at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White67.4% · 188
- Black or African American12.9% · 36
- Asian and Pacific Islander7.9% · 22
- Hispanic or Latino6.1% · 17
- Two or more races3.2% · 9
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.5% · 7
Popularity
Cyrilla: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Cyrilla from the 1890s through to the 2020s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 157 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1920s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Cyrilla by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Cyrilla during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Cyrillas live
Origin
Meaning and history of Cyrilla
The name Cyrilla is believed to have originated from the Latin word "cyrillus," which is derived from the Greek name "Kyrillos." This name can be traced back to ancient Greece and was popularized by Saint Cyril, a Christian theologian and missionary who lived in the 4th century AD.
The name Cyrilla is also closely associated with the botanical genus Cyrilla, which includes several species of small trees and shrubs native to the southeastern United States and the Caribbean. This genus was named in honor of Domenico Cirillo, an 18th-century Italian botanist and physician.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Cyrilla can be found in the writings of Saint Ambrose, a 4th-century bishop of Milan. He mentioned a woman named Cyrilla in his work "De Virginibus" (On Virgins).
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Cyrilla. One such person was Cyrilla Petitjean (1857-1930), a French painter and engraver known for her portraits and landscape paintings. Another was Cyrilla Barricklow (1887-1939), an American journalist and author who wrote extensively about life in the Appalachian region.
In the literary world, Cyrilla Garnett (1884-1946) was a renowned English translator who introduced the works of numerous Russian authors, including Anton Chekhov and Ivan Bunin, to English-speaking audiences. Her translations were highly praised for their accuracy and literary quality.
Another notable Cyrilla was Cyrilla Monier (1907-1989), a French painter and sculptor who was part of the Parisian avant-garde art scene in the mid-20th century. Her works were heavily influenced by Cubism and Surrealism, and she was known for her bold use of color and experimental techniques.
In the field of education, Cyrilla Brewer (1882-1963) was an American educator and activist who advocated for equal educational opportunities for African Americans in the segregated South. She served as the president of Voorhees College, a historically black college in Denmark, South Carolina, for over three decades.
These are just a few examples of individuals throughout history who have borne the name Cyrilla. While not as common as some other names, Cyrilla has a rich history and has been associated with individuals from various walks of life, including the arts, literature, journalism, and education.
People
Cyrilla + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Cyrilla as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with C
Other first names starting with C with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Cyrilla: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Cyrilla?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 125 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Cyrilla going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 2,742,035 US residents.
Is Cyrilla a common name?
We classify Cyrilla as "Very Rare". It ranks above 67.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 543 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Cyrilla most popular?
The single biggest year for Cyrilla was 1917, when 26 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Cyrilla is about 53 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Cyrilla in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 279 people with the name Cyrilla, or 0.09 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #30,942 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Cyrilla in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Cyrilla?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Cyrilla appears almost entirely female. Of the 278 people counted with this name, 99.6% were female and only a very small share were male. The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Cyrilla?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Cyrilla is White at 67.4%. The next largest groups are Black (12.9%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (7.9%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Cyrilla most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Cyrilla in the 2020 Census, accounting for 67.4% (188 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Cyrilla in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Cyrilla a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Cyrilla in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Cyrilla still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Cyrilla in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Cyrilla can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How common is the name Cyrilla?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.