From Greek Kyrillos meaning "lordly, masterful," borne by several saints.
Cyril derives from the Greek name Kyrillos, itself understood as a diminutive of "kyrios," meaning lord or master — a title of authority that carried enormous theological weight in the Byzantine world. The name entered Western consciousness primarily through Saint Cyril (826–869 CE), the Byzantine missionary who, together with his brother Methodius, evangelized the Slavic peoples and — most consequentially — devised the Glagolitic alphabet as a tool for translating scripture. The Glagolitic script evolved into what we now call the Cyrillic alphabet, named in his honor, and remains the writing system of Russian, Bulgarian, Serbian, and dozens of other languages.
Few names can claim to have so directly shaped the written record of nearly half the globe. Beyond this monumental linguistic legacy, the name gathered further distinction across different traditions. Cyril Connolly, the acerbic British critic and founder of the journal Horizon, gave it an intellectual, slightly world-weary literary quality in twentieth-century Britain.
Cyril Ramaphosa, the South African statesman, demonstrates its continued vitality in African contexts where the name traveled through missionary Christianity. In aristocratic British circles, the name enjoyed Victorian and Edwardian favor, appearing in Evelyn Waugh's social orbit and in the drawing rooms of the upper middle class. Cyril is rare today in the English-speaking world — which is precisely its charm for parents seeking a name both genuinely historical and genuinely unusual. It carries the weight of saints and scholars without the overcrowding of more fashionable revival names, and its crisp two syllables age gracefully from childhood to old age.