Phinehas
Masculine · “the Nubian”
Phinehas is probably Egyptian — 'the Nubian' — and the priest of that name stops a plague with a spear in Numbers.
How old is the name Phinehas?
Phinehas first appears in US birth records in 1997 — 28 years ago. The typical Phinehas is a kid of about 7 — this name's wave is very recent. About 600 people named Phinehas are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Phinehas most popular?
Phinehas peaked in 2025, reaching #2572 nationally. Today it ranks #2572, exactly where it peaked. See the whole 2025 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From pa-nehasi to Phinehas
The story of Phinehas
Phinehas is Aaron's grandson and, in a violent episode in Numbers, kills an Israelite man and a Midianite woman with one spear thrust, and is credited with stopping a plague. That his name looks Egyptian, like Moses and Aaron, is part of the case for a genuine Egyptian layer in the narrative. It is in current American use.
Meaningscholars disagree
the Nubian, dark-skinned
Generally from the Egyptian pa-nehasi, 'the Nubian' or 'the southerner', one of several apparently Egyptian names in the Exodus narrative. A Hebrew reading from peh, 'mouth', is proposed and weaker. The Egyptian route is the mainstream view.
How the name formed
- pa-nehasi
- Phinehas
Related forms: פנחס · Phineas · Pinchas
Pronouncing Phinehas
FIN-ee-us
Three syllables, stress on the first. Hebrew Pinchas is PIN-khas.
Nicknames for Phinehas
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
- 1997
- Most boys named
- 202551 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2572reached in 2025
- Change vs 2024
- +27.5%51 in 2025, from 40
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.
Phinehas in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- פנחס in Hebrew — related form
- Phineas in English — spelling variant
- Pinchas in Yiddish — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, Illinois, California.
Phinehass among us
people named Phinehas are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 33,492 born in 2025 was named Phinehas
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Chilton test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Phinehas's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Chilton climbed just as high around 1945, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Chilton's path sketches the road Phinehas is walking now.
Phinehas 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 Phinehas is headed
Phinehas 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.
Phinehas beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Phinehas in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- That the name is probably Egyptian is a first-rate piece of scholarship.
- Phin and Finn are two short forms, both with real records.
- It is genuinely distinctive.
- The biblical episode is extremely violent.
- Phineas is the commoner English spelling.
- It reads as strongly biblical.
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Phinehas
Masculine · #2572 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Phinehass are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 600 people named Phinehas are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Phinehas in 2025?
- Phinehas ranks #2572 among US boy names in 2025, with 51 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Phinehas?
- About 1 in every 33,492 US boys born in 2025 was named Phinehas — 51 in all.
- Will my child share the name Phinehas with classmates?
- Phinehas will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Phinehas
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Ripp#2572 · Efraim#2572 · Willem#2572 · Duane#2572 · Nikolaos#2572 · Nicolai#2572 · Zair#2572 · Parth#2572
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Phinehas? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Phinehas and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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