Priscilla is an English female given name adopted from Latin Prisca, derived from priscus.

The name first appears in the New Testament either as Priscilla or Prisca, a female leader in early Christianity. The name also appears along with Maximilla, referring to two female leaders of the Montanist movement of the 2nd century AD.

The name appears in English literature in Edmund Spenser's The Faerie Queene (1596), and was adopted as an English name by the Puritans in the 17th century.

It increased in usage in the United States in the 1930s due to the influence of actress Priscilla Lane and again in the late 1970s and early 1980s due to the influence of actress Priscilla Presley.

Notable people and characters with the name include:

People

A

• Priscilla Alden (1602–1685), Member of Massachusetts's Plymouth Colony of Pilgrims

• Priscilla B. Anderson (born 1935), American politician

B

• Priscilla Baltazar-Padilla (1958–2021), 188th Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines

• Priscilla Barnes (born 1954), American actress

• Priscilla Bertie, 21st Baroness Willoughby de Eresby (1761–1828), English Baroness

• Priscilla Betti (born 1989), French singer

• Priscilla Bonner (1899–1996), American actress

• Priscilla Buchan, Baroness Tweedsmuir of Belhelvie (1915–1978), British politician

C

D

E

F

• Priscilla Faia (born 1985), Canadian actress

• Priscilla Falcón, Chicana activist in Colorado

• Priscilla Ford (1930–2005), American mass murderer

• Priscilla Frederick (born 1989), American-born Antiguan high jumper

G

• Priscilla Hertati Lumban Gaol (born 1988), Indonesian martial artist

• Priscilla Giddings (born 1983), American politician and pilot from Idaho

• Priscilla Gilman (born 1970), American writer and former college professor

• Priscilla Gurney (1757–1828), British Quaker minister

H

• Priscilla Hagan (born 1996), Ghanaian footballer

• Priscilla Hamby (born 1982), American illustrator and comic book artist

• Priscilla Hastings (1920–2010), British racehorse owner and trainer

• Priscilla Herdman (born 1948), American musician

• Priscilla Hernández (born 1984), Spanish singer-songwriter and fantasy illustrator

• Priscilla Hill (born 1961), American figure skater

I

J

• Priscilla Freeman Jacobs (born 1940), Waccamaw-Siouan chief

K

• Priscilla Nyokabi Kanyua, Kenyan politician

• Priscilla Kavita (1961–2021), Namibian politician

• Priscilla Kayira, Malawian radio broadcaster, presenter and television personality

• Priscilla Kincaid-Smith (1926–2015), South African-born Australian physician and medical researcher

L

• Priscilla Laws (born 1940), American physics educator

• Priscilla Leung (born 1960), Hong Kong barrister and politician

• Priscilla Levac, Canadian snowboarder

• Priscilla Lockwood (1936–2019), American politician

• Priscilla Long (born 1943), American writer and political activist

• Priscilla Lopez (born 1948), American singer, dancer, and actress

M

• Priscilla Mamba (born 1972), Swazi long-distance runner

• Priscilla Kolibea Mante, Ghanaian neuropharmacologist

• Priscilla Martins, Brazilian beauty pageant winner

• Priscilla McLean (born 1942), American classical composer

• Priscilla Meirelles (born 1983), Brazilian beauty pageant winner

• Priscilla Misihairabwi-Mushonga, Zimbabwean politician

• Priscilla Mokaba, South African political activist

• Priscilla Monge (born 1968), Costa Rican installation artist

• Priscilla Morand (born 1993), Mauritian judoka

N

• Priscilla Namingha (1924–2008), Hopi-Tewa potter

• Priscilla Napier (1908–1998), English writer

• Priscilla Nelson, American academic administrator

• Priscilla Ng (born 1984), Hong Kong television journalist

O

• Priscilla Okyere (born 1995), Ghanaian footballer

• Priscilla Otti (born 1970), First Lady of Abia State, Nigeria

P

• Priscilla Pemu, American physician

• Priscilla Pitts, New Zealand writer and curator

• Priscilla (drag queen) (born 1976), Italian drag performer

Q

• Priscilla Quintana (born 1992), American actor, model

R

• Priscilla Ransohoff (1912–1992), American education specialist

• Priscilla Rattazzi (born 1956), Italian-born American photographer

• Priscilla Roberts (1916–2001), American artist

• Priscilla Robertson (1910–1989), American historian

S

• Priscilla Kepner Sage (born 1936), American textile and fiber artist

• Priscilla Schwartz (born 1967), Sierra Leonean lawyer

• Priscilla Sekgobela (born 1957), South African politician

• Priscilla Settee (born 1948), Cree activist

• Priscilla Shirer (born 1974), American author and motivational speaker

• Priscilla Slade, American university administrator

• Priscilla J. Smith, American attorney

• Priscilla Studd (1864–1929), British Protestant missionary

T

• Priscilla Taylor (politician) (born 1949), American politician

• Priscilla Tyler (educator), US educator and scholar of composition and world literature

• Priscilla Cooper Tyler (1816–1889), First Lady of the United States from 1842 to 1844

• Priscilla Tyson (born 1955), Former Columbus Councilwoman

U

• Priscilla Ikos Usiobaifo, Nigerian feminist and gender rights advocate

V

• Priscilla de Villiers, Canadian politician

W

• Priscilla Wadsworth (born 2000), American pencil artist

• Priscilla Wald (born 1958), American English professor and literary critic

• Priscilla Wehi, New Zealand ethnobiologist

• Priscilla Fane, Countess of Westmorland (1793–1879), British linguist and artist

• Priscilla White (physician) (1900–1989), American diabetologist (1900–1989)

• Priscilla A. Wooten (1936–2017), American politician

• Priscilla Wright (singer) (born 1940), Canadian singer

Y

Fictional characters

• Priscilla "Pris" Stratton, from the 1982 film Blade Runner

• Priscilla Kelly, in the soap opera The Bold and the Beautiful

See also

• Priscila (disambiguation), an alternative spelling of Priscilla

• List of biblical names

References