Philip

What Philip means

Means “fond of horses”

From Middle English Philip, ultimately from Ancient Greek Φίλιππος (Phílippos), name of ancient kings of Macedonia, from φίλιππος (phílippos, “fond of horses”), from φιλέω (philéō, “to love”) +‎ ἵππος (híppos, “horse”).

Source: Wiktionary, “Philip” (revision 94867800), CC BY-SA 4.0. Quoted from the etymology; we don’t write our own.

How popular is Philip?

US: Falling: down from #432 in 2015. England & Wales: Falling: down from #313 in 2015.

Biggest US share so far: 1948, when 6,162 boys got the name (#54 that year). First in the US records in 1880.

How common

• About 1 in 3,007 baby boys in the US in 2025
• About 1 in 3,830 baby boys in England and Wales in 2025
• About 1 in 3,928 baby boys in Scotland in 2025

“1 in N” divides by all listed births for that sex. The US list leaves out names given to fewer than 5 babies, and the UK lists leave out names given to 2 or fewer, so the real figure is a little rarer than shown.

Where in the US

Most popular in MS (0.74 per 1,000 boys), ID (0.7 per 1,000 boys), LA (0.68 per 1,000 boys) in 2025.

SSA state data, 2025. Share of all listed boys born in each state.

US vs UK

Philip is #527 in the US and #549 in England & Wales (2025).

Same sex as this page (boys). SSA (US), ONS (England and Wales), NRS (Scotland).

Boy or girl?

In 2025, 99.9+% of US babies named Philip were boys.

Counts below the publishing threshold (US 5, UK 3) are not included.

How to say it

IPA from Wiktionary.

Other spellings parents chose in 2025

• Phillip425 US · 23 E&W
• Filip42 US · 124 E&W
• Philippe14 US · 5 E&W
• Philipp5 US

Names that sound the same and differ by a letter or two, with baby counts for the same sex. US and E&W counts.

Spelling variants on Wiktionary

• Phillip
• Filipp

Listed as alternative forms on Wiktionary.

Nicknames

• Phil
• Pip

Listed on Wiktionary under “pet forms”.

If you like Philip

Boys

• Eugene#943“well born”^*
• James#6“May He Heel”^*
• Peter#187“stone, rock”^*
• Stephen#383“crown, wreath”^*
• Paul#262“small”^*
• Thomas#34“twin”^*

For a sister

• Deborah#862“bee”^*
• Teresa#908Editor’s note Down from #664 in 2015 to #908 in 2025 in the US
• Martha#712“mistress”^*
• Melissa#419“bee, honey, or honeybee”^*
• Mary#125Same root as Miriam, possibly meaning “bitter”^*
• Priscilla#544“former, ancient, old-fashioned”^*

Picked from the US top 1,000 in 2025: names Wiktionary also files under Bible, Greek, whose US popularity since 1990 rose and fell most like Philip’s. Rank is US 2025.