Sybil
A feminine name of Greek origin meaning "prophetess" or "oracle".
Name Census estimates that about 7,286 living Americans carry the first name Sybil. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Sybil today is around 55 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Sybil births was 1921 (541 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Sybil. 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 Sybil with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
7.3K
~ 1 in 47,043 Americans
Peak year
1921
541 babies that year
Average age
55
years old
1924 SSA rank
#1,564
Tracked since 1881
Census
Sybil in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 9,207 people with the first name Sybil, which placed it at #2,603 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
#2,603
National first-name rank
People counted
9.2K
9,207 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
3.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
68.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Sybil
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Sybil is White at 68.7%. The next largest groups are Black (22.1%) and Hispanic (3.2%). 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 Sybil 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 Sybil at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White68.7% · 6,329
- Black or African American22.1% · 2,036
- Hispanic or Latino3.2% · 293
- Two or more races3.1% · 290
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.1% · 193
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.7% · 66
Gender
Gender distribution for Sybil
Out of the 20,212 babies given the name Sybil since 1880, 100.0% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Sybil as a male name
- Ranked #4,875 in 1924
- 5 male births in 1924
- Peak: 1924 (5 births)
Sybil as a female name
- Ranked #1,564 in 2024
- 136 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1921 (541 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Sybil appears almost entirely female. Of the 9,208 people counted with this name, 99.8% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Sybil: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Sybil from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 4,442 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
Sybil 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 Sybil during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Sybils live
The SSA's state-level files cover 42 states and territories. Texas, North Carolina, Georgia recorded the most babies named Sybil, while Connecticut, Arizona, New Mexico recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 346 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Sybil
The name Sybil has its origins in ancient Greek mythology. It derives from the Greek word "sibylla", which means "prophetess". The Sibyl was a legendary figure who uttered prophecies in a frenzied state, ostensibly under the influence of a deity. The word is a conflation of two Greek words: "sios" meaning "god" and "boulē" meaning "counsel" or "will".
The earliest known record of the name Sybil appears in the writings of the ancient Greek historian Herodotus, who mentions the Sibyl of Erythrae, an oracular priestess from the Ionian city of Erythrae in modern-day Turkey. This Sibyl is believed to have lived in the 6th century BCE.
In ancient Rome, the Sibylline Books were a collection of prophecies attributed to various Sibyls. These texts were highly revered and consulted by the Roman state during times of crisis or major undertakings. The most famous of these Sibyls was the Cumaean Sibyl, who is said to have offered the books to the Roman king Tarquinius Superbus in the 6th century BCE.
One of the earliest recorded instances of Sybil as a given name is found in the writings of the 4th-century Christian historian Eusebius of Caesarea, who mentions a woman named Sybil who lived in the 2nd century CE and was a prominent member of the early Christian community in Rome.
Throughout history, notable individuals named Sybil include:
1. Sybil Ludington (1761-1839), an American Revolutionary War heroine known for her daring midnight ride to alert militia forces in Connecticut.
2. Sybil Ingall (1811-1908), an English-born Australian pioneer and diarist who documented life in early colonial Australia.
3. Sybil Sanderson (1865-1903), an American operatic soprano who achieved fame in Europe during the late 19th century.
4. Sybil Thorndike (1882-1976), a renowned British actress who had a prolific career on stage and in film spanning over seven decades.
5. Sybil Leek (1917-1982), an English witch, occult writer, and self-proclaimed psychic who gained popularity during the 1960s and 1970s.
While the name Sybil fell out of widespread use in the 20th century, it has seen a resurgence in popularity in recent decades, perhaps due to its unique and evocative connection to the ancient world and the mystique of the oracular prophetesses.
People
Sybil + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Sybil 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
Sybil: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Sybil?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 7,286 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Sybil 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 47,043 US residents.
Is Sybil a common name?
We classify Sybil as "Rare". It ranks above 97.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 20,212 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Sybil most popular?
The single biggest year for Sybil was 1921, when 541 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Sybil is about 55 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Sybil in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 9,207 people with the name Sybil, or 3.05 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #2,603 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 Sybil 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 Sybil?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Sybil appears almost entirely female. Of the 9,208 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 Sybil?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Sybil is White at 68.7%. The next largest groups are Black (22.1%) and Hispanic (3.2%). 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 Sybil most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Sybil in the 2020 Census, accounting for 68.7% (6,329 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 Sybil in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Sybil a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Sybil 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 Sybil still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Sybil 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 Sybil 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 named Sybil?
Find out how many people have the name Sybil on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.