Felipe
Masculine · “friend of horses”
Felipe is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 31,825 boys against 133 girls since 1880.
Felipe is the Spanish form of a name the Greeks were already writing down two and a half thousand years ago, and it has been carried by kings of Spain from the sixteenth century to the present day. Four syllables that end on an open vowel, it moves easily between Spanish and English mouths, and in the US it sits strongest in Texas, California and Florida.
How old is the name Felipe?
Felipe was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Felipe alive today was born around 1988, making them about 37 years old. About 26,500 people named Felipe are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Felipe most popular?
Felipe peaked in 1981, reaching #373 nationally. Today it ranks #955, 582 places below that high. See the whole 1981 chart.
Felipe appears on this list:
Where it comes from
From Philippos to Felipe
The story of Felipe
The name begins as Greek Philippos, borne by Macedonian kings and, in the Christian record, by one of the twelve apostles, which carried it across the Mediterranean and into Latin as Philippus. Spanish reshaped it into Felipe, softening the opening and dropping the double p; Portuguese made Filipe, Italian Filippo, French Philippe. Its Spanish fortunes were sealed when the Habsburg and later Bourbon kings took it as a throne name, and Spain has had a King Felipe in nearly every century since the 1500s. From Spain it traveled to the Americas, where Felipe became one of the enduring given names of Latin America — and, through immigration, of the United States.
Meaning
friend of horses, or lover of horses
From Greek philos, "loving, dear," plus hippos, "horse" — a compound that made sense in a world where horses meant status.
How the name formed
- Philippos
- Philippus
- Philippe
- Felipe
Related forms: Philip · Filipe · Filippo · Philippe · Philipp · Philippos
Pronouncing Felipe
feh-LEE-peh
In Spanish, three even syllables with the stress in the middle and a clear final vowel. English speakers usually land on fuh-LEE-pay, which is widely accepted; the pronunciation to head off is the one that drops the ending into "fuh-LEEP."
Nicknames for Felipe
High
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1880
- Most boys named
- 2005582 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #373reached in 1981
- Change vs 2022
- −14.7%244 in 2025, from 286
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Felipe in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Philip in English — same name
- Filipe in Portuguese — same name
- Filippo in Italian — same name
- Philippe in French — same name
- Philipp in German — same name
- Philippos in Greek — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, California, Florida.
Felipes among us
people named Felipe are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 7,000 born in 2025 was named Felipe
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Alphonso test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Felipe's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Alphonso climbed just as high around 1900, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Alphonso's path sketches the road Felipe is walking now.
Felipe sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Felipe is headed
Felipe should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
High confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Felipe beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Felipe in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- It is the same name as Philip, so it needs no translation to be understood in an English-speaking country — the connection is immediate to most people.
- Documented continuously from ancient Greek through Latin into Spanish, with no gap in the line.
- Established short forms already exist in real use: Pipe and Feli in Spanish, Phil in English.
- Recognizable in Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, French and German with only small changes of shape, which travels well across a family with more than one language.
- The final -e is the sticking point in English. Expect a lifetime of gently correcting people who read it as one syllable short, and of seeing it written Felipé or Phelipe.
- Felipe and the Portuguese Filipe are near-twins, so forms, teachers and databases will sometimes swap them. Worth deciding early which spelling is the family's and holding to it.
- English speakers often reach for Phil, which erases the Spanish shape of the name. That may be welcome or unwelcome, but it is worth knowing it will be offered.
- It is familiar without being crowded, and strongly represented in the Southwest and Florida — how ordinary it feels will depend a good deal on where the child grows up.
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What they receive
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Felipe
Masculine · #955 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Felipes are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 26,500 people named Felipe are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Felipe in 2025?
- Felipe ranks #955 among US boy names in 2025, with 244 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Felipe?
- About 1 in every 7,000 US boys born in 2025 was named Felipe — 244 in all.
- Will my child share the name Felipe with classmates?
- Felipe will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Felipe
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Legacy#955 · Gian#955 · Damari#958 · Mitchell#952 · Jethro#952 · Melvin#958 · Agustin#952 · Jon#951
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Felipe? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Felipe and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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