Phillip
Masculine · “fond of horses”
Phillip is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 311,561 boys against 1,330 girls since 1880. See Phillip as a girl 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 was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Phillip alive today was born around 1966, making them about 59 years old. About 232,000 people named Phillip are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Phillip most popular?
Phillip peaked in 1950, reaching #64 nationally. Today it ranks #651, 587 places below that high. See the whole 1950 chart.
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
- 1880
- Most boys named
- 19606,047 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #64reached in 1950
- Change vs 2022
- −17.3%425 in 2025, from 514
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
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, Florida.
Phillips among us
people named Phillip are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 4,019 born in 2025 was named Phillip
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Phillip
- #651
- Phillip on the 2025 chart
- #315
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Phillip went to 425 boys in 2025, but Philip 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 — 336 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 4,019 for Phillip 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 Milton test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Phillip's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Milton climbed just as high around 1912, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Milton's path sketches the road Phillip is walking now.
Phillip 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 Phillip is headed
Phillip 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.
Phillip beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Phillip in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
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.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
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Phillip
Masculine · #651 in the U.S.
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 232,000 people named Phillip are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Phillip?
- Phillip is one of 3 recorded spellings. Philip is the more common one — 568 births in 2025 against 425 for Phillip.
- How popular is the name Phillip in 2025?
- Phillip ranks #651 among US boy names in 2025, with 425 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Phillip?
- About 1 in every 4,019 US boys born in 2025 was named Phillip — 425 in all.
- Will my child share the name Phillip with classmates?
- Phillip will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Phillip
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Quincy#652 · Otis#652 · Wayne#652 · Princeton#652 · Uriah#648 · Anakin#648 · Keanu#648 · Sam#647
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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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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