Phillip
Feminine · “fond of horses”
Phillip is given to boys far more often — 311,561 boys against 1,330 girls since 1880. See Phillip as a boy name
Phillip belonged to a man who learned how to conquer Greece by being held hostage in it. Sent to Thebes as a boy to guarantee his brother's good behavior, he spent three years in the household of the best generals of the age, watched how they had beaten Sparta, and went home and built an army on what he had seen.
How old is the name Phillip?
Phillip first appears in US birth records in 1918 — 107 years ago. The typical Phillip alive today was born around 1970, making them about 55 years old. About 1,100 people named Phillip are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Phillip most popular?
Phillip peaked in 1950, reaching #1955 nationally. See the whole 1950 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From A Greek compound about horses to Phillip
Our story of Phillip
The name has produced more English surnames than almost any other, and most of them are unrecognizable. The clipped forms of the medieval name — Phip, Phelp, Pot — took the ordinary surname endings and produced Phipps, Phelps, Philpott and half a dozen more, alongside the transparent Philips and Phillipson. That happens when a name is very common over a long period: every pet form in circulation becomes somebody's family name, and once the fashion in first names moves on, the surnames stay put. A modern surname directory is largely a record of which first names were popular in England in about 1300.
Meaning
fond of horses
Two Greek elements, one about loving and one meaning a horse, and the reading is settled. It was an aristocratic name in the Greek world for the obvious reason: horses were what the aristocracy had. The doubled l in this spelling is English and has no counterpart in the Greek or the Latin.
How the name formed
- A Greek compound about horses
- A Macedonian king who took Greece
- An apostle's name across Christian Europe
- Phillip as the doubled American spelling
Related forms: Philippe · Felipe · Filippo
Pronouncing Phillip
FIL-ip
Two syllables, stress on the first. The doubled l is inaudible; the standard international spelling has one l and two p's, and this one has the reverse, which is a purely English arrangement.
Nicknames for Phillip
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
- 1918
- Most girls named
- 198539 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1955reached in 1950
- Change vs 1997
- −16.7%5 in 2005, from 6
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.
Phillip in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Philippe in French — related form
- Felipe in Spanish — related form
- Filippo in Italian — related form
Phillips among us
people named Phillip 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
Phillip 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
- Phil and Pip are two well-established short forms.
- It is used across every European language in a recognizable form.
- The meaning is concrete and takes three words to give.
- Philip with one l is the international spelling and will be written for it.
- The doubling has to be given every time the name is spelled aloud.
- The spelling appears on the register for both sexes in small numbers.
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What they receive
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Phillip
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Phillips are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,100 people named Phillip are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Phillip in 2025?
- Phillip is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Phillip with classmates?
- Phillip 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 Phillip? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Phillip and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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