Philip
Feminine · “Fond of horses”
Philip is given to boys far more often — 344,036 boys against 1,137 girls since 1880. See Philip as a boy name
The Macedonians were not considered Greek by the Greeks, and the most famous Philip spent his career arguing about it. Athenian orators called him a barbarian from a country that produced nothing worth having; he took their cities anyway, and his son took the rest of the known world.
How old is the name Philip?
Philip first appears in US birth records in 1896 — 129 years ago. The typical Philip alive today was born around 1961, making them about 64 years old. About 700 people named Philip are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Philip most popular?
Philip peaked in 1896, reaching #1416 nationally. See the whole 1896 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Philippos to Philip
The story of Philip
He lost an eye at a siege and the evidence may have been dug up. A royal tomb at Vergina in northern Greece, opened in the nineteen-seventies and found unlooted, held cremated remains and an enormous quantity of gold; forensic examination of the skull showed a healed injury above the right eye socket consistent with the arrow wound the sources describe. Whether that tomb is his or his son's has been argued about ever since, with the greaves, the pottery and the bones all producing arguments on both sides. The dispute is still live. What is not in dispute is that somebody in that family was hit in the eye and survived it.
Meaning
Fond of horses
Greek philos, loving, and hippos, a horse. Owning and riding horses was an aristocratic thing to do, so the name signaled a class as much as an interest. It belongs to a set of Greek names built the same way, of which this one has traveled furthest.
How the name formed
- Philippos
- Philippus
- Philip
Related forms: Felipe · Philippe · Filippo · Philipp · Filipp
Pronouncing Philip
FIL-ip
Two syllables with the stress at the front. The ph is Greek and says a plain f; the single l in the English spelling is a simplification of the doubled one that every other European language keeps.
Nicknames for Philip
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
- 1896
- Most girls named
- 198130 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1416reached in 1896
- Change vs 1992
- 0.0%5 in 1996, from 5
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.
Philip in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Felipe in Spanish — same name
- Philippe in French — same name
- Filippo in Italian — same name
- Philipp in German — same name
- Filipp in Russian — transliteration
Philips among us
people named Philip are estimated to be alive in the US today
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
Questions parents actually ask
Fashion outlook
Philip sits outside the current charts, and that is its own kind of answer: naming cycles can only date the names they carried up. A name this rare has no decade stamped on it — it cannot go out of fashion, because it was never in.
Based on 146 years of naming cycles. How we read them
The trade-off
- Recognizable in every European language with only small changes of spelling.
- Phil and Pip are two short forms in completely different registers.
- The meaning is transparent and can be given to a child in three words.
- The record carries it for girls in small numbers, so it is not quite an absolute signal.
- Phillip with two l's is nearly as common in America and the two are confused constantly.
- It reads as rather formal in American ears and has been out of fashion for some decades.
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What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Philip
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Philips are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 700 people named Philip are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Philip in 2025?
- Philip is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Philip with classmates?
- Philip will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More P names
The most-given names starting with P, all years combined.
Patricia#1334 · Pamela#2239 · Phyllis#11932 · Peggy#8362 · Paula#853 · Pauline#2957 · Pearl#776 · Paige#346
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Philip? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Philip and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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