Priscilla is an English female given name adopted from Latin Prisca, derived from priscus. There is a theory that this biblical character was the author of the Letter to the Hebrews.
Priscilla Alden, from a painting by George H. Boughton.
| |
| Gender | Female |
|---|---|
| Origin | |
| Word/name | Roman |
| Meaning | venerable, ancient, classical, primordial[1] |
| Other names | |
| Related names | Prisca |
The name first appears in the New Testament either as PriscillaorPrisca, a female leader in early Christianity.[2][3] 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.[4]
Notable people and characters with the name include:
A large share of this work evidently fell to Priscilla. That she possessed abilities of a high order would seem to be inferred from the fact that her name is always mentioned along with her husband's — in a number of instances is mentioned first.
