Filomena
Feminine · “friend of strength”
Filomena is Greek for a friend of strength, and its modern use rests on a nineteenth-century discovery that the church later withdrew.
How old is the name Filomena?
Filomena first appears in US birth records in 1885 — 140 years ago. The typical Filomena alive today was born around 1926, making them about 99 years old. About 1,600 people named Filomena are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Filomena most popular?
Filomena peaked in 1907, reaching #427 nationally. Today it ranks #4460, 4,033 places below that high. See the whole 1907 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From philos menos to Filomena
The story of Filomena
A tomb found in the Roman catacombs in 1802 was read as belonging to a martyr called Filumena, and an enormous cult followed across Italy and Latin America. In 1961 the church removed her feast from the calendar on the grounds that the evidence for her existence was insufficient. The name was already well established and remains widely used in Italy, Portugal and Latin America.
Meaning
friend of strength; or beloved
From Greek philos, loving, and menos, strength or spirit; the compound reads as loving strength. A separate Greek Philomela, nightingale-lover, is a different name and is often confused with it.
How the name formed
- philos menos
- Filomena
Related forms: Filomena · Filomena · Philomena
Pronouncing Filomena
fee-loh-MEH-nah
Four syllables with the stress on the third. Every letter is sounded in Italian.
Nicknames for Filomena
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
- 1885
- Most girls named
- 1923207 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #427reached in 1907
- Change vs 2022
- −8.8%31 in 2025, from 34
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.
Filomena in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Filomena in Italian — same name
- Filomena in Portuguese — same name
- Philomena in English — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: New York, New Jersey, Florida.
Filomenas among us
people named Filomena are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 51,847 born in 2025 was named Filomena
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Filomena
- #4460
- Filomena on the 2025 chart
- #828
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Filomena went to 31 girls in 2025, but Philomena is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 132, which makes it the 828th most-given girls’ name of the year — 3,632 places above the chart.
- Philomena101
- Filomena31
About 1 girl in 12,176 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 51,847 for Filomena 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
Fashion outlook
Filomena 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 Filomena is headed
Filomena 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.
Filomena beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Filomena in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- A settled Greek meaning that is transparent once explained.
- Mena is a complete short form in its own right.
- Substantial early twentieth-century American use with Italian families.
- Eight letters and four syllables is a great deal for early handwriting.
- The saint's cult was formally withdrawn, which some families will want to know.
- It reads as of an older generation to Italian speakers.
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What they receive
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Filomena
Feminine · #4460 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Filomenas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,600 people named Filomena are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Filomena?
- Filomena is one of 2 recorded spellings. Philomena is the more common one — 101 births in 2025 against 31 for Filomena.
- How popular is the name Filomena in 2025?
- Filomena ranks #4460 among US girl names in 2025, with 31 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Filomena?
- About 1 in every 51,847 US girls born in 2025 was named Filomena — 31 in all.
- Will my child share the name Filomena with classmates?
- Filomena will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Filomena
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Jayce#4460 · Nikita#4460 · Magali#4460 · Emari#4460 · Rilyn#4460 · Danyla#4460 · Lynleigh#4460 · Mandy#4460
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Filomena? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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