Phoenix
Feminine · Greek roots · “the mythical bird”
Phoenix is given to both — 16,064 girls and 24,571 boys since 1880. See Phoenix as a boy nameSee other names given to both
Phoenix is one of the oldest images in Western writing to become a modern given name: Herodotus described the bird in the fifth century BCE, and an Old English poem in the Exeter Book retold it for a Christian audience. In the mouth it is two clean syllables ending in that crisp -x, a letter almost no other name gets to use.
How old is the name Phoenix?
Phoenix first appears in US birth records in 1970 — 55 years ago. The typical Phoenix is a kid of about 8 — this name's wave is very recent. About 16,000 people named Phoenix are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Phoenix most popular?
Phoenix peaked in 2020, reaching #285 nationally. Today it ranks #533, 248 places below that high. See the whole 2020 chart.
Phoenix appears on this list:
Where it comes from
From Phoinix (Greek) to Phoenix
The story of Phoenix
The word came into English from Latin, which took it from Greek phoinix, and the creature it names was already ancient when Herodotus wrote down the Egyptian account of a bird that returns once an age to bury its parent. Early Christian writers took up the same bird as a figure of resurrection, which is how it reached the Old English poem 'The Phoenix' and, from there, centuries of European heraldry and emblem books. Phoenix was also a personal name in Greek before any of that. Its arrival as an American given name owes something to the Arizona city, founded in the nineteenth century and named for a settlement rising on the ruins of an older one — which is likely part of why California, Texas and Florida still show the name most strongly.
Meaningscholars disagree
the mythical bird; also crimson, date palm, or Phoenician
The Greek word phoinix carried several senses at once — the immortal bird, the date palm, a deep purple-red dye, and a person from Phoenicia — and scholars still disagree about which sense came first and how they are linked. Some connect it to phoinos, 'blood-red', pointing to the famous Phoenician dye; others read the bird's name as the older layer. As a given name it is understood as the bird.
How the name formed
- PhoinixGreek
- phoenixLatin
- PhoenixEnglish
Related forms: Φοίνιξ (Phoinix) · Fénix · Phénix · Fenice · Phönix · Feniks
Pronouncing Phoenix
FEE-niks
Stress on the first syllable. The English word and the name are said identically, so almost no American reader will hesitate over it out loud — the difficulty is written, not spoken.
Nicknames for Phoenix
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
- 1970
- Most girls named
- 20201,116 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #285reached in 2020
- Change vs 2024
- −24.0%567 in 2025, from 746
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.
Phoenix in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Φοίνιξ (Phoinix) in Greek — transliteration
- Fénix in Spanish — same name
- Phénix in French — same name
- Fenice in Italian — same name
- Phönix in German — same name
- Feniks in Dutch — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, Florida.
Phoenixs among us
people named Phoenix are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 2,835 born in 2025 was named Phoenix
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 Annika test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Phoenix's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Annika climbed just as high around 2003, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Annika's path sketches the road Phoenix is walking now.
Phoenix 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 Phoenix is headed
Phoenix 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.
Phoenix beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Phoenix in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- It is an ordinary English word, so nobody has to be taught how to say it — recognition is immediate in speech.
- A documented line from ancient Greek through Latin into English, unbroken for well over two thousand years.
- Recognizable in Spanish, French, Italian, German and Dutch with only a small change of spelling.
- Used for both boys and girls, so it needs no adjustment for either child.
- Common enough to be familiar, rare enough that a child is unlikely to share it with a classmate.
- The Ph- will be tested constantly. Fenix and Phenix both circulate, and people who hear the name before seeing it often reach for the F. Expect to spell it aloud for life.
- Because the spelling is given to boys and girls in real numbers, strangers reading it on a form will not know which to assume. That falls hardest on girls named Phoenix, who are the smaller group.
- The bird carries a great deal of freight — rebirth, ashes, resurrection — and it is used heavily by sports teams, brands and tattoo shops. Some people will make that association out loud.
- It also reads instantly as the Arizona city, which is a neutral fact in most of the country and a more loaded one in the Southwest.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Phoenix to the vote.
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What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Phoenix
Feminine · Greek roots · #533 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Phoenixs are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 16,000 people named Phoenix are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Phoenix in 2025?
- Phoenix ranks #533 among US girl names in 2025, with 567 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Phoenix?
- About 1 in every 2,835 US girls born in 2025 was named Phoenix — 567 in all.
- Will my child share the name Phoenix with classmates?
- Phoenix will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Phoenix
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Nellie#533 · Oaklee#535 · Marlee#536 · Romina#529 · Jayla#529 · Cecelia#529 · Skye#529 · Jazlyn#537
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Phoenix? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Phoenix and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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Cast your vote
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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