Philip
Masculine · “Fond of horses”
Philip is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 344,036 boys against 1,137 girls since 1880. See Philip as a girl 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 was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Philip alive today was born around 1957, making them about 68 years old. About 214,000 people named Philip are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Philip most popular?
Philip peaked in 1941, reaching #52 nationally. Today it ranks #527, 475 places below that high. See the whole 1941 chart.
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
- 1880
- Most boys named
- 19546,279 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #52reached in 1941
- Change vs 2022
- −8.2%568 in 2025, from 619
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
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, New York, Texas.
Philips among us
people named Philip are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 3,007 born in 2025 was named Philip
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Philip
- #527
- Philip on the 2025 chart
- #315
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Philip went to 568 boys in 2025, but Phillip and Filip 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 — 212 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 3,007 for Philip 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 Edwin test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Philip's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Edwin climbed just as high around 1919, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Edwin's path sketches the road Philip is walking now.
Philip has held the top-100 across 11 different decades — it has never depended on fashion, and names like that read the same at any age.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Philip is headed
Philip 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.
Philip beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Philip in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
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.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
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Philip
Masculine · #527 in the U.S.
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 214,000 people named Philip are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Philip?
- Philip is the most-used spelling in US records — 568 of the 1,040 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Phillip and Filip.
- How popular is the name Philip in 2025?
- Philip ranks #527 among US boy names in 2025, with 568 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Philip?
- About 1 in every 3,007 US boys born in 2025 was named Philip — 568 in all.
- Will my child share the name Philip with classmates?
- Philip will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Philip
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Mohamed#527 · Finnegan#526 · Azriel#529 · Ridge#529 · Roy#525 · Chozen#523 · Tyson#531 · Gianni#523
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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Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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