ninan.org

Philip

Boys' name · Mid-century perennial

Living in the US
~214,400 survival-weighted estimate
2025 rank
#527 among boys
Births in 2025
568 345,173 since 1880
Typical age
57 years, median

Philip popularity over time

Philip rank by birth year, 1880–2025Philip ranked #81 in 1880 and #527 in 2025. Its best rank in the period was #52, in 1941.#100#527best #52 in 194118901920195019802010
Rank among US baby names by birth year, 1880–2025. Lower is more popular; the scale is logarithmic so the top of the chart is not compressed.

More children were named Philip in 1953 than in any other year — 6,288 of them. It appears in the very first year SSA covers, 1880. It has held a top-100 place in 108 separate years.

In 2025 it ranked #527 with 568 births. The ten-year change is -20%.

Babies named Philip per yearPeaks at 6,288 births in 1953.6,288 in 1953018901920195019802010
Recorded US births by year. The peak is labelled; the axis starts at zero.

How many people are named Philip?

Roughly 214,400 Philips are alive in the US right now. That is out of 345,173 recorded births since 1880.

This is a survival-weighted estimate, not a headcount: every recorded birth year is multiplied by the chance someone born that year is still alive, using the SSA period life table. How the estimate works.

How old is the average Philip?

Median age among living Philips: 57. The 1950s produced the largest surviving cohort. By the site’s era rules that makes Philip a mid-century perennial name.

Your Philip

Ages of living people named PhilipHalf of living Philips are older than 57 and half younger.median 57020406080100
Estimated living bearers by age today. Each bar is a birth year, weighted by the chance someone born then is still alive.

Where Philip is most common

Philip is 2.8× as common in District of Columbia as it is nationally. Connecticut, Massachusetts and New Hampshire follow.

Where Philip is used more than average5 states use the name Philip more than the national average.Alaska: not over-representedAKMaine: not over-representedMEVermont: not over-representedVTNew Hampshire: 1.8× the national rateNHWashington: not over-representedWAIdaho: not over-representedIDMontana: not over-representedMTNorth Dakota: not over-representedNDMinnesota: not over-representedMNIllinois: not over-representedILWisconsin: not over-representedWIMichigan: not over-representedMINew York: not over-representedNYOregon: not over-representedORNevada: not over-representedNVWyoming: not over-representedWYSouth Dakota: not over-representedSDIowa: not over-representedIAIndiana: not over-representedINOhio: not over-representedOHPennsylvania: not over-representedPANew Jersey: not over-representedNJConnecticut: 1.9× the national rateCTRhode Island: not over-representedRICalifornia: not over-representedCAUtah: not over-representedUTColorado: not over-representedCONebraska: not over-representedNEMissouri: not over-representedMOKentucky: not over-representedKYWest Virginia: not over-representedWVVirginia: not over-representedVAMaryland: not over-representedMDDelaware: not over-representedDEMassachusetts: 1.9× the national rateMAArizona: not over-representedAZNew Mexico: not over-representedNMKansas: not over-representedKSArkansas: not over-representedARTennessee: not over-representedTNNorth Carolina: not over-representedNCSouth Carolina: not over-representedSCDistrict of Columbia: 2.8× the national rateDCOklahoma: not over-representedOKLouisiana: 1.7× the national rateLAMississippi: not over-representedMSAlabama: not over-representedALGeorgia: not over-representedGAHawaii: not over-representedHITexas: not over-representedTXFlorida: not over-representedFL
Same as national3× or more
Location quotient, 2016–2025. Shaded states use the name more than the country does, relative to their own births. Exact figures are in the table below.
States where Philip is over-represented, 2016–2025. The location quotient compares the state's share of the name with the national share.
StateBirthsvs national rate
District of Columbia 33 2.8×
Connecticut 92 1.9×
Massachusetts 189 1.9×
New Hampshire 28 1.8×
Louisiana 130 1.7×

Philip in England and Wales

ONS recorded 71 births named Philip in 2025, ranking it #549. That is 41% lower than five years earlier.

Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Counts below three are suppressed by ONS.

Where the name Philip comes from

From Middle English Philip, ultimately from Ancient Greek Φίλιππος, name of ancient kings of Macedonia, from φίλιππος (“fond of horses”), from φιλέω + ἵππος.

Etymology summarised from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0. Wiktionary entry.

Notable people named Philip

Ordered by how many Wikipedia language editions have an article about them — a measure of reach, not of importance.
NameKnown forYearsEditions
Philip K. Dick American science fiction author 1928–1982 96
Philip Seymour Hoffman American actor 1967–2014 92
Philip Roth American novelist 1933–2018 91
Philip Pullman English author 1946 76
Philip W. Anderson American physicist 1923–2020 72
Philip Johnson American architect 1906–2007 67
Philip Glass American composer 1937 64
Philip Reeve English children's writer and illustrator 1966 64
Photo credits (6)

The sharpest rise. Births under this name jumped from 612 in 1911 to 1,237 in 1912 — 2.0 times over in a single year.

Birth records contain the rise and nothing about its cause. This site does not supply one.

People and dates from Wikidata (CC0), limited to those with an English Wikipedia article who are known by this name as their first name.

How Philip is usually spelled

Spellings within one or two letters of each other, and how 2025 births divided between them.
SpellingBirths in 2025Share
Philip this page 568 57%
Phillip 425 43%

Names similar to Philip

Matched by sound and spelling inside this dataset, then ordered by total recorded births. This is not a claim about shared etymology.

Related pages

Get this data

Every number on this page is available as JSON: /api/name/philip.json. Free to use with attribution (CC BY 4.0).