Cyril Family History

West Indian Indian and African (mainly Nigeria): from the personal name Cyril, an English form of Greek Kyrillos, a pet form of Kyrios, a Christian adjective meaning ‘of the Lord’ derived from the Greek noun kyrios ‘lord’. This was the name of a number of early Christian saints, notably the theologians Cyril of Alexandria and Cyril of Jerusalem, and of the saint and missionary (826–869) who together with his brother Methodios brought Christianity to the Slavs;

the Cyrillic alphabet, which is still used today for writing Russian, Ukrainian, Belorussian, Bulgarian, Serbian, Macedonian, Rusyn, and certain other languages, is named for him. Saint Cyril is therefore especially venerated as a saint among the Slavs;

some of the principal forms of this name in Slavic languages are Russian Kiril, Ukrainian and Rusyn Kyryl(o), Polish Cyryl, Slovak Cyril, and Slovenian Ciril; see also Curylo, Kurilla, and Kurylo.

The name is also established in southern Italy (see Cirillo) and in Spain (see Cirilo).