Menu Close

Priscilla

Of Latin origin.

From the Latin name Prisca, feminine form of Priscus.

Priscus was a Roman family name from the Latin word “priscus”, meaning “ancient”, “prior”, “old-fashioned”.

The name appears in the New Testament. Priscilla (or Prisca) and Aquila were a Christian couple who lived and traveled with Apostle Paul.

Other forms of the name are Priscille, Priscella, Prisella, Priska, Prissy, Scilla, Sissy.

Priscilla was ranked in the U.S.A. top-500 for almost a century. It dropped #502 in 2015 and was #474 in 2016.

Famous bearers are Priscilla Presley, Priscilla Pointer, Priscilla Martel, Priscilla Betti, Priscilla Wong, Priscilla Lopez, Priscilla Barnes, Priscilla Garita, Priscilla Morgan, Priscilla Lane.

 

Additional information concerning the Ancient Roman naming system:

According to the Roman naming rules, the basic elements of Roman names were three. A “praenomen”, a “nomen”, and a “cognomen”.

A “praenomen” was the first name, indicating the personal name.

A “nomen” was the second name, indicating the ‘gens’ to which the bearer of the name belonged to. Gens, meaning the group of families sharing a common “nomen”.

“Nomen” would stand as the group of loosely connected families claiming common ancestors. “Nomen” were always patrilinear, meaning from the father.

A “cognomen” was the third name and was something like the surname. Cognomina (plural of cognomen) were usually inherited. They were rarely given to the bearer by general consensus by the prominent members of the community.

There were several types of “cognomina”, such as geographical, adoptive, occupational, etc. In very rare cases the “cognomina” could be metronymic, meaning from the mother’s “nomen”.