Filip
Masculine · “lover of horses”
Filip is Philip written the way most of Europe writes it — with an f, because the ph is a Greek convention that Slavic and Nordic spelling never adopted. The Greek behind it is about horses, which is more concrete than most classical names manage.
How old is the name Filip?
Filip first appears in US birth records in 1953 — 72 years ago. The typical Filip alive today was born around 2009, making them about 16 years old. About 2,300 people named Filip are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Filip most popular?
Filip peaked in 2012, reaching #1336 nationally. Today it ranks #2941, 1,605 places below that high. See the whole 2012 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Philippos to Filip
The story of Filip
Philip was a Macedonian royal name — the father of Alexander carried it — and it entered Christian use through one of the twelve apostles and one of the seven deacons in Acts. That double route made it standard across Europe. The f-spellings belong to the Slavic and Nordic languages, which never took the Greek ph: Filip in Polish, Czech, Serbian, Croatian, Swedish and Danish. It reaches United States records with families from all of those countries.
Meaning
lover of horses
Greek Philippos joins philos, 'loving, dear', to hippos, 'horse'. The reading is transparent and undisputed. Horses meant cavalry and therefore status in the Greek world, so this was a name of rank rather than a whimsy. The ph in the English spelling represents the Greek letter phi; Polish, Czech, Swedish and Serbian all write the f they actually say.
How the name formed
- Philippos
- Philippus
- Filip
Related forms: Philip · Filip · Filip · Felipe · Filippo · Filipp
Pronouncing Filip
FEE-lip
Two syllables, stress on the first. Slavic and Scandinavian languages give the first vowel a long ee; English says FIL-ip with a short i. Both are heard in American families carrying the name.
Nicknames for Filip
Moderate
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
- 1953
- Most boys named
- 2009108 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1336reached in 2012
- Change vs 2024
- −19.2%42 in 2025, from 52
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.
Filip in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Philip in English — spelling variant
- Filip in Polish — same name
- Filip in Swedish — same name
- Felipe in Spanish — same name
- Filippo in Italian — same name
- Filipp in Russian — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: Illinois, New York, California.
Filips among us
people named Filip are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 40,668 born in 2025 was named Filip
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Filip
- #2941
- Filip on the 2025 chart
- #315
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Filip went to 42 boys in 2025, but Philip and Phillip are the same name said out loud. Together the 4 spellings went to 1,040, which makes it the 315th most-given boys’ name of the year — 2,626 places above the chart.
and 1 rarer spelling.
About 1 boy in 1,642 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 40,668 for Filip itself.
Spellings are grouped by a fixed rule that folds interchangeable English spellings of one sound (ck/k, ph/f, x/ks, a non-initial y for i) and keeps vowels apart, so Sean and Shawn stay separate names. It errs towards splitting: a family here is never larger than the truth. SSA national data, 2025. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Nichols test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Filip's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Nichols climbed just as high around 1987, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Nichols's path sketches the road Filip is walking now.
Filip 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 Filip is headed
Filip should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
Medium 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.
Filip beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Filip in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- One of the most widely used names in Europe, recognized everywhere without explanation.
- Fil and Phil are ready short forms, one for each spelling.
- The spelling is phonetic in every language that uses it except English.
- Philip is the standard English spelling and this one will be corrected on forms.
- The first vowel is long in Slavic languages and short in English, so the name shifts.
- Filip, Philip, Filipp and Phillip all circulate and get confused.
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What they receive
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Filip
Masculine · #2941 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Filips are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 2,300 people named Filip are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Filip?
- Filip is one of 3 recorded spellings. Philip is the more common one — 568 births in 2025 against 42 for Filip.
- How popular is the name Filip in 2025?
- Filip ranks #2941 among US boy names in 2025, with 42 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Filip?
- About 1 in every 40,668 US boys born in 2025 was named Filip — 42 in all.
- Will my child share the name Filip with classmates?
- Filip will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Filip
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Prescott#2941 · Kwame#2941 · Michelangelo#2941 · Jahan#2941 · Kairi#2941 · Yonah#2941 · Nihal#2941 · Reyes#2941
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Filip? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Filip and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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