Priscilla

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

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

Priscilla B. Anderson (born 1935), American politician

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Fictional characters

Priscilla "Pris" Stratton, from the 1982 film Blade Runner Priscilla Kelly, in the soap opera The Bold and the Beautiful

Priscilla

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