Pricila
A feminine name derived from the Latin name Priscilla.
Name Census estimates that about 1,101 living Americans carry the first name Pricila. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Pricila today is around 23 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Pricila births was 2002 (82 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Pricila. 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.
People living today
1.1K
~ 1 in 311,312 Americans
Peak year
2002
82 babies that year
Average age
23
years old
2022 SSA rank
#14,884
Tracked since 1980
Census
Pricila in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,406 people with the first name Pricila, which placed it at #9,750 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
#9,750
National first-name rank
People counted
1.4K
1,406 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
89.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Pricila
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Pricila is Hispanic at 89.3%. The next largest groups are White (5.4%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (3.7%). 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 Pricila 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 Pricila at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino89.3% · 1,255
- White5.4% · 76
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.7% · 52
- Black or African American1.1% · 16
- Two or more races0.3% · 4
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.2% · 3
Popularity
Pricila: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Pricila from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 659 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Pricila 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 Pricila during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Pricilas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 6 states and territories. California, Texas, Arizona recorded the most babies named Pricila, while Florida, Nevada, Illinois recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 84 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Pricila
The name Pricila is of Latin origin and is a feminine form derived from the ancient Roman name Priscilla. The name Priscilla itself is a diminutive of the Latin word "priscus," meaning "ancient" or "old-fashioned."
In ancient Roman times, the name Priscilla was borne by several notable women, including Priscilla, the wife of the Roman general Quintus Servilius Caepio, who lived in the 2nd century BC. Another famous Priscilla was the wife of the Roman emperor Diocletian, who reigned from 284 to 305 AD.
The name Priscilla also appears in the New Testament of the Bible, where it refers to a Jewish Christian woman who was a companion of the apostle Paul. She and her husband, Aquila, were tentmakers and hosted a Christian church in their home in Corinth, Greece.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Pricila is found in the 13th century, when a woman named Pricila de Villanueva was mentioned in a Spanish document from the year 1256. In the 16th century, a Pricila de Velasco was recorded as a Spanish noblewoman who lived during the reign of King Philip II.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals named Pricila, including:
1. Pricila Serrão (c. 1520-1594), a Portuguese woman who was one of the first European settlers in Japan and played a significant role in the early Christian missionary efforts in that country.
2. Pricila Brizola (1934-2018), a Brazilian politician and activist who was the wife of former Brazilian President João Goulart and fought for democratic reforms in her country.
3. Pricila Rodríguez (born 1983), a Venezuelan model and actress who has appeared in various television series and films in Latin America.
4. Pricila Navas (born 1987), a Mexican singer and songwriter who has released several successful albums in the regional Mexican music genre.
5. Pricila Pavez (born 1991), a Chilean volleyball player who has represented her country in several international competitions, including the Olympic Games and World Cup.
While the name Pricila has its roots in ancient Roman culture and has been used throughout history, it has gained popularity in various regions of the world, particularly in Latin American countries, where it has been embraced as a beautiful and distinctive feminine name.
People
Pricila + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Pricila as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with P
Other first names starting with P with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Pricila: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Pricila?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,101 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Pricila 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 311,312 US residents.
Is Pricila a common name?
We classify Pricila as "Rare". It ranks above 90.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,124 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Pricila most popular?
The single biggest year for Pricila was 2002, when 82 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Pricila is about 23 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Pricila in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,406 people with the name Pricila, or 0.47 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #9,750 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 Pricila 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 Pricila?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Pricila appears almost entirely female. Of the 1,408 people counted with this name, 99.7% 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 Pricila?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Pricila is Hispanic at 89.3%. The next largest groups are White (5.4%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (3.7%). 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 Pricila most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Pricila in the 2020 Census, accounting for 89.3% (1,255 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 Pricila in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Pricila a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Pricila 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 Pricila still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Pricila 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 Pricila 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 many people share the name Pricila?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.