Philippe
French masculine given name derived from the Greek meaning "lover of horses".
Name Census estimates that about 2,524 living Americans carry the first name Philippe. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Philippe today is around 43 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Philippe births was 1979 (59 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Philippe. 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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Philippe with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
2.5K
~ 1 in 135,798 Americans
Peak year
1979
59 babies that year
Average age
43
years old
2024 SSA rank
#7,588
Tracked since 1914
Census
Philippe in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 5,420 people with the first name Philippe, which placed it at #3,733 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
#3,733
National first-name rank
People counted
5.4K
5,420 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.8
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
64.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Philippe
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Philippe is White at 64.6%. The next largest groups are Black (20.1%) and Hispanic (6.9%). 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 Philippe 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 Philippe at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White64.6% · 3,502
- Black or African American20.1% · 1,091
- Hispanic or Latino6.9% · 376
- Asian and Pacific Islander4.5% · 245
- Two or more races3.7% · 198
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.1% · 8
Popularity
Philippe: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Philippe from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 513 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1980s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Philippe 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 Philippe during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Philippes live
The SSA's state-level files cover 12 states and territories. New York, California, Massachusetts recorded the most babies named Philippe, while Rhode Island, Michigan, Maryland recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 95 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Philippe
The name Philippe originated from the ancient Greek name Philippos, which is derived from the words philos, meaning "lover of" and hippos, meaning "horse". The name was widely used in ancient Greece and later adopted by the Romans.
Philippe has its roots in the Hellenistic period, around the 4th century BC. It was borne by several notable historical figures, including Philippos II, the king of Macedon and father of Alexander the Great. The name is also mentioned in various ancient Greek texts, such as the works of Aristotle and Plutarch.
During the Middle Ages, the name Philippe gained popularity in Western Europe, particularly in France and the Low Countries. It was the name of several French kings, including Philippe I (1052-1108), Philippe II (1165-1223), and Philippe IV (1268-1314), who played significant roles in shaping the history of medieval France.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Philippe is found in the 6th century, when it was used by Philippe of Zell, a Frankish nobleman and courtier. In the 11th century, Philippe I of France became the first of the Capetian dynasty to bear the name.
Throughout history, there have been many notable individuals named Philippe. Philippe de Vitry (1291-1361) was a influential French composer and music theorist during the medieval period. Philippe de Commines (1447-1511) was a renowned Renaissance historian and author known for his chronicles of the French kings.
Philippe Pinel (1745-1826) was a French physician who pioneered the humane treatment of psychiatric patients and is regarded as a leading figure in the development of modern psychiatry. Philippe Petit (born 1949) is a famous French high-wire artist best known for his daring tightrope walk between the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in 1974.
Philippe Starck (born 1949) is a renowned French designer and architect known for his innovative and unconventional designs, including furniture, household objects, and buildings. These are just a few examples of the many notable individuals throughout history who have borne the name Philippe.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Philippe
People
Philippe + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Philippe 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
Philippe: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Philippe?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2,524 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Philippe 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 135,798 US residents.
Is Philippe a common name?
We classify Philippe as "Rare". It ranks above 94.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 3,029 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Philippe most popular?
The single biggest year for Philippe was 1979, when 59 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Philippe is about 43 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Philippe in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 5,420 people with the name Philippe, or 1.79 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #3,733 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 Philippe 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 Philippe?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Philippe appears almost entirely male. Of the 5,418 people counted with this name, 99.6% were male and only a very small share were female. 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 Philippe?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Philippe is White at 64.6%. The next largest groups are Black (20.1%) and Hispanic (6.9%). 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 Philippe most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Philippe in the 2020 Census, accounting for 64.6% (3,502 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 Philippe in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Philippe a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Philippe in the SSA data are male. 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 Philippe still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Philippe 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 Philippe 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 common is the name Philippe?
For a quick modern take, check how many people have the name Philippe on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org.