Phylicia
Feminine · “foliage on one reading”
Phylicia is Phyllis and Felicia meeting at one spelling. The ph at the front is Greek and belongs to the first; the -cia at the back is Latin and belongs to the second; and the name sits precisely where two unrelated families overlap in the ear.
How old is the name Phylicia?
Phylicia first appears in US birth records in 1968 — 57 years ago. The typical Phylicia alive today was born around 1989, making them about 36 years old. About 2,300 people named Phylicia are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Phylicia most popular?
Phylicia peaked in 1987, reaching #651 nationally. See the whole 1987 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Phyllis to Phylicia
The story of Phylicia
Blends of this kind are made rather than descended, and they leave visible fingerprints. A ph at the front of an English word almost always signals a Greek borrowing; a -cia at the end almost always signals a Latin one. Putting them together produces something that looks classical from both ends and belongs to neither language, which is a fair description of how a great deal of twentieth-century American naming worked. The record shows the name appearing in the nineteen-sixties and peaking two decades later.
Meaningscholars disagree
foliage on one reading, lucky on the other
If the name is built on Phyllis, the Greek means foliage. If it is Felicia respelt, the Latin means lucky. The two have nothing in common and the spelling points at both.
How the name formed
- Phyllis
- Phylicia
Pronouncing Phylicia
fuh-LEE-shuh
Three syllables with the weight in the middle. The ph is said as an f and the ci as a sh, both of which the spelling leaves to the reader.
Nicknames for Phylicia
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
- 1968
- Most girls named
- 1987289 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #651reached in 1987
- Change vs 2013
- +20.0%6 in 2014, from 5
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.
Phylicias among us
people named Phylicia 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
Phylicia 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
- The stress in the middle gives it a lift most English names of its length do not have.
- Both short forms are usable and quite different from each other.
- It is genuinely uncommon while being readable once heard.
- The ph and the ci both need explaining, so the name will be mispronounced on sight.
- Felicia and Phylicia are said almost identically and will be confused.
- There is no single meaning, because there is no single parent.
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What they receive
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Phylicia
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Phylicias are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 2,300 people named Phylicia are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Phylicia in 2025?
- Phylicia is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Phylicia with classmates?
- Phylicia 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 Phylicia? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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