Cyril is a distinctive choice, ranked #3684 in 2025. Your child is likely to be the only Cyril in their class.
💎
UK Rank 2025
#3684
Ad
About the Name Cyril
Cyril is climbing rapidly up the charts, having climbed 276 places in just five years. Its best recorded rank was #1457 in 2008 — and current momentum suggests it could challenge that mark again. The name has been a consistent presence in UK records since 1996.
Cyril is rare in the UK, so your child is very likely to be the only Cyril in their class.
⭐ Famous People Named Cyril
Cyril Raffaelli — Cyril Raffaelli, sometimes credited as Cyril Xavier Cuenel Raffaelli and Cyril Quenel-Raffaelli, is a French traceur, martial artist and stuntman.
Cyril Kongo — Cyril Kongo, also known as Kongo, was born in 1969 as Cyril Phan in Toulouse, France.
Cyril Ramaphosa — Matamela Cyril Ramaphosa is a South African businessman and politician serving as the president of South Africa since 2018.
Biographical summaries are shortened from Wikipedia and are used under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence; those summaries remain available under that same licence.
Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions about the name Cyril
Unlikely. With around 5 UK babies named Cyril per year, your child will almost certainly be the only Cyril in their class, and possibly the only one in the whole school.
Cyril is declining: down 1,456 places since 2020, to #3,684 in 2025. It peaked at #1,457 in 2008.
Cyril is a distinctive choice sitting outside the mainstream UK top names. Parents choosing less common names often find their children appreciate the individuality as they grow up, rarely needing to add an initial to distinguish themselves.
Notable people named Cyril include: Cyril Raffaelli, Cyril Kongo and Cyril Ramaphosa. Short summaries for each appear below.
Cyril does not appear in the US top 1,000 baby names, making it a distinctively British choice — your child is unlikely to encounter American Cyrils in the wild.
5
UK babies named Cyril (2025)
< 1
Expected classmates with this name (class of 28)
~0.0
In a school of 600
↓ 1456 places
Rank change (last 5 years)
🏫 Who else is in the room?
In a typical UK class of 28, highlighted children share the name Cyril
Almost certainly the only Cyril in the class
Ad
UK Popularity (1996–2025)
Rank and birth count · ONS official data
No US data available for this name
✨ Similar names to Cyril
Names with a similar style — each with their own classroom story
Sir Cyril Richard Smith was a British Liberal Party and Liberal Democrat politician who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Rochdale from 1972 to 1992.
Cyril of Jerusalem (Greek: Κύριλλος Α΄ Ἱεροσολύμων, Kýrillos A΄ Hierosolýmōn; Latin: Cyrillus Hierosolymitanus; c. 313 – 386) was a theologian of the Early Church.
Patriarch Cyril (Bulgarian: Патриарх Кирил; secular name Konstantin Markov Konstantinov [Bulgarian: Константин Марков Константинов]; January 3, 1901 – March 7, 1971) was the first Patriarch of the restored Bulgarian Patriarchate.
Cyril Tourneur was an English soldier, diplomat and dramatist who wrote The Atheist's Tragedy; another (and better-known) play, The Revenger's Tragedy, formerly ascribed to him, is now more generally attributed to Thomas Middleton.