Sibyl
A name with Greek origins meaning "prophet" or "prophetess".
Name Census estimates that about 1,119 living Americans carry the first name Sibyl. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Sibyl today is around 58 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Sibyl births was 1918 (299 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Sibyl. 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 Sibyl with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
1.1K
~ 1 in 306,304 Americans
Peak year
1918
299 babies that year
Average age
58
years old
2024 SSA rank
#9,438
Tracked since 1880
Census
Sibyl in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,414 people with the first name Sibyl, which placed it at #9,716 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
#9,716
National first-name rank
People counted
1.4K
1,414 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
70.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Sibyl
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Sibyl is White at 70.2%. The next largest groups are Black (19.1%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (4.0%). 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 Sibyl 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 Sibyl at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White70.2% · 992
- Black or African American19.1% · 270
- Asian and Pacific Islander4.0% · 56
- Hispanic or Latino3.7% · 53
- Two or more races2.5% · 36
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.5% · 7
Popularity
Sibyl: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Sibyl from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1910s, with 1,159 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1910s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Sibyl 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 Sibyl during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Sibyls live
The SSA's state-level files cover 22 states and territories. Texas, Arkansas, Georgia recorded the most babies named Sibyl, while New York, Kansas, California recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 69 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Sibyl
The name Sibyl has its origins in ancient Greek mythology and language. It is derived from the Greek word "sibylla", which means "prophetess" or "female oracle". The earliest known use of this name dates back to the 6th century BC, when it referred to certain oracular women in ancient Greece and Anatolia.
In Greek mythology, the Sibyls were a group of oracular women who were believed to possess prophetic powers and the ability to interpret the will of the gods. They were highly revered and consulted for their wisdom and guidance on important matters. The most famous of these Sibyls was the Cumaean Sibyl, who was said to have guided Aeneas on his journey to found the city of Rome.
The name Sibyl also appears in various ancient Greek and Roman texts, including the works of Virgil, Ovid, and Pausanias. In the Bible, the Sibylline Oracles, a collection of oracular sayings attributed to these prophetesses, are mentioned in the Book of Revelation.
During the Middle Ages, the name Sibyl gained popularity in Christian Europe, where it was associated with the concept of the Sibyls as prophets who foretold the coming of Christ. Notable historical figures named Sibyl include Sibyl of Jerusalem (4th century AD), a Christian martyr, and Sibyl, Countess of Flanders (1094-1119), a medieval noblewoman.
In the Renaissance period, the name Sibyl became popular among artists and intellectuals who were fascinated by the classical world. One of the most famous examples is Michelangelo's depiction of the Cumaean Sibyl on the Sistine Chapel ceiling (1508-1512). Other notable Sibyls from this era include Sibyl Dormer (1590-1661), an English writer and translator, and Sibyl Sanderson (1865-1903), a famous American operatic soprano.
Other historical figures named Sibyl include Sibyl Avory (1834-1924), an English women's rights activist, and Sibyl Moholy-Nagy (1903-1971), a German-American art historian and writer.
People
Sibyl + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Sibyl as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with S
Other first names starting with S with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Sibyl: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Sibyl?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,119 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Sibyl 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 306,304 US residents.
Is Sibyl a common name?
We classify Sibyl as "Rare". It ranks above 90.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 4,441 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Sibyl most popular?
The single biggest year for Sibyl was 1918, when 299 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Sibyl is about 58 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Sibyl in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,414 people with the name Sibyl, or 0.47 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #9,716 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 Sibyl 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 Sibyl?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Sibyl appears almost entirely female. Of the 1,420 people counted with this name, 99.5% 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 Sibyl?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Sibyl is White at 70.2%. The next largest groups are Black (19.1%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (4.0%). 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 Sibyl most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Sibyl in the 2020 Census, accounting for 70.2% (992 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 Sibyl in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Sibyl a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Sibyl 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 Sibyl still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Sibyl 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 Sibyl 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 are called Sibyl?
You can see how many people have the name Sibyl on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.