Sibyl

From Greek Σίβυλλα (Sibylla), meaning “prophetess, sibyl,” the name refers to the sibyls of Greek and Roman legend, female prophets associated with holy sites in the ancient world. In later Christian theology they were believed to have divine knowledge and were revered much like the Old Testament prophets, which led to the name’s general use in the Christian world during the Middle Ages. The Normans brought it to England, where it appeared as both Sibyl and Sybil; it declined after the Protestant Reformation but was revived in the 19th century, perhaps aided by Benjamin Disraeli’s novel Sybil (1845).

Sibyl rose from #923 to #908 for girls between 1928 and 1929. Its highest annual birth count came in 1918, with 299 births.