Phila
A feminine name of Greek origin meaning "beloved" or "lover of horses".
Name Census estimates that about 9 living Americans carry the first name Phila. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Phila today is around 82 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Phila births was 1917 (7 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Phila. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
Key insights
- • The typical person named Phila is about 82 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Philas were born before 1954.
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Phila. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
9
~ 1 in 38,083,815 Americans
Peak year
1917
7 babies that year
Average age
82
years old
1954 SSA rank
#6,407
Tracked since 1889
Census
Phila in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 152 people with the first name Phila, which placed it at #44,992 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#44,992
National first-name rank
People counted
152
152 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
45.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Phila
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Phila is White at 45.4%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (33.6%) and Black (11.2%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Phila described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Phila at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White45.4% · 69
- Asian and Pacific Islander33.6% · 51
- Black or African American11.2% · 17
- Two or more races4.6% · 7
- Hispanic or Latino3.3% · 5
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.0% · 3
Popularity
Phila: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Phila from the 1880s through to the 1950s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1910s, with 13 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1910s peak, Phila remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Phila by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Phila during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Phila
The name Phila has its roots in Ancient Greek, originating from the word "philos" which means "beloved" or "dear." It gained prominence during the Hellenistic period, which spanned from the 4th to the 1st century BC.
Phila was a relatively common name among Greek women, particularly in the regions of mainland Greece and the Aegean islands. It was often used as a standalone name or as a prefix or suffix in combination with other Greek words to form more complex names, such as Philammon or Amphilochos.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Phila can be found in the writings of the ancient Greek historian Plutarch, who lived in the 1st century AD. He mentions a woman named Phila in his work "Parallel Lives," which chronicles the lives of famous Greeks and Romans.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Phila. One of the most famous was Phila of Samos, a Greek woman who lived in the 6th century BC and was renowned for her skills in poetry and philosophy. She was a student of the legendary philosopher Pythagoras and is credited with writing one of the earliest known works on the theory of numbers.
Another prominent figure was Phila of Pergamum, a Greek physician who lived in the 2nd century BC. She was one of the few female physicians of her time and is believed to have made significant contributions to the field of medicine, although many of her writings have been lost to history.
In the realm of religion, Phila was the name of a Christian martyr who lived in the 3rd century AD. She was put to death during the persecution of Christians under the Roman Emperor Diocletian and is venerated as a saint in the Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches.
During the Byzantine era, Phila was the name of a prominent noblewoman who lived in the 11th century AD. She was a member of the Ducas family and played a significant role in the political intrigues and power struggles of the Byzantine court.
Another notable figure was Phila Ngandu Sungu, a 17th-century queen of the Kongo Kingdom in Central Africa. She ruled from 1641 to 1663 and is remembered for her efforts to maintain the independence of her kingdom in the face of Portuguese colonization.
People
Phila + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Phila as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with P
Other first names starting with P with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Phila: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Phila?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 9 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Phila going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 38,083,815 US residents.
Is Phila a common name?
We classify Phila as "Very Rare". It ranks above 25.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 63 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Phila most popular?
The single biggest year for Phila was 1917, when 7 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Phila is about 82 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Phila in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 152 people with the name Phila, or 0.05 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #44,992 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Phila in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Phila?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Phila leans strongly female. 119 people counted with this name were female (82.6%), compared with 25 male bearers (17.4%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Phila?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Phila is White at 45.4%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (33.6%) and Black (11.2%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Phila most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Phila in the 2020 Census, accounting for 45.4% (69 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Phila in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Phila a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Phila in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Phila still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Phila in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Phila can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many Americans are named Phila?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.