Priscila
Ancient origin meaning old or venerable.
Name Census estimates that about 4,711 living Americans carry the first name Priscila. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Priscila today is around 22 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Priscila births was 2002 (257 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Priscila. 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 Priscila with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
4.7K
~ 1 in 72,756 Americans
Peak year
2002
257 babies that year
Average age
22
years old
2024 SSA rank
#2,571
Tracked since 1964
Census
Priscila in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 7,483 people with the first name Priscila, which placed it at #2,993 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
#2,993
National first-name rank
People counted
7.5K
7,483 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
2.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
72.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Priscila
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Priscila is Hispanic at 72.4%. The next largest groups are White (16.5%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (7.6%). 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 Priscila 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 Priscila at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino72.4% · 5,419
- White16.5% · 1,235
- Asian and Pacific Islander7.6% · 571
- Black or African American2.4% · 178
- Two or more races0.8% · 62
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.2% · 18
Popularity
Priscila: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Priscila from the 1960s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 2,004 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
Priscila 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 Priscila during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Priscilas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 22 states and territories. California, Texas, Florida recorded the most babies named Priscila, while Wisconsin, Utah, Tennessee recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 150 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Priscila
The given name Priscila is derived from the Latin Prisca, meaning "ancient" or "venerable." Its roots can be traced back to the Roman era, where it was a relatively common name among Roman women.
The name Priscila first appeared in early Christian texts, particularly in the New Testament. In the book of Romans, Saint Paul mentions a woman named Priscila, who, along with her husband Aquila, was a tentmaker and a follower of Christianity. This reference dates back to the 1st century AD.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Priscila is found in the writings of the Roman historian Tacitus. He mentions a woman named Priscila who was a member of the imperial family during the reign of Emperor Claudius in the 1st century AD.
Throughout history, several notable women have borne the name Priscila. One of the most famous is Priscila, the wife of the Roman Emperor Diocletian, who ruled from 284 to 305 AD. She is known for her influence on her husband's policies and her support for the early Christian community.
Another notable Priscila was Priscila de Andrade (1584-1647), a Portuguese noblewoman and philanthropist. She was renowned for her charitable work and her efforts to establish schools and hospitals in Portugal.
In the 16th century, Priscila Bakes (1551-1616) was a Dutch painter and one of the first women to be admitted to the prestigious Guild of St. Luke in Antwerp. Her works were highly regarded during her lifetime and are now part of several museum collections.
During the 19th century, Priscila Maria Isidora Maulhardt y Prati (1818-1890) was a notable Argentine writer and educator. She founded several schools and was a pioneer in promoting women's education in Argentina.
Lastly, Priscila Presley (born 1945) is an American actress and businesswoman, best known as the former wife of the legendary musician Elvis Presley. She played a significant role in managing and preserving her late husband's estate and legacy.
People
Priscila + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Priscila 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
Priscila: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Priscila?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 4,711 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Priscila 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 72,756 US residents.
Is Priscila a common name?
We classify Priscila as "Rare". It ranks above 96.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 4,811 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Priscila most popular?
The single biggest year for Priscila was 2002, when 257 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Priscila is about 22 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Priscila in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 7,483 people with the name Priscila, or 2.48 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #2,993 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 Priscila 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 Priscila?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Priscila appears almost entirely female. Of the 7,484 people counted with this name, 99.8% 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 Priscila?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Priscila is Hispanic at 72.4%. The next largest groups are White (16.5%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (7.6%). 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 Priscila most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Priscila in the 2020 Census, accounting for 72.4% (5,419 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 Priscila in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Priscila a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Priscila 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 Priscila still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Priscila 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 Priscila 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 Priscila?
Want to know how many Americans are named Priscila? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.