Phillip
A masculine name of Greek origin meaning "lover of horses".
Name Census estimates that about 238,727 living Americans carry the first name Phillip. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Phillip today is around 52 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Phillip births was 1960 (6,072 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Phillip. 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 Phillip with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Phillip is used almost entirely for boys, the SSA data does show 1,330 girls registered with the name since 1880.
- • Compared to the 1950s, recent registration numbers for Phillip have dropped to less than 5% of what they once were.
People living today
239K
~ 1 in 1,436 Americans
Peak year
1960
6,072 babies that year
Average age
52
years old
2024 SSA rank
#626
Tracked since 1880
Census
Phillip in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 216,750 people with the first name Phillip, which placed it at #258 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
#258
National first-name rank
People counted
217K
216,750 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
71.8
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
72.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Phillip
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Phillip is White at 72.0%. The next largest groups are Black (13.0%) and Hispanic (7.7%). 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 Phillip 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 Phillip at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White72.0% · 156,075
- Black or African American13.0% · 28,229
- Hispanic or Latino7.7% · 16,671
- Two or more races3.3% · 7,158
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.9% · 6,374
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.0% · 2,243
Gender
Gender distribution for Phillip
Out of the 312,450 babies given the name Phillip since 1880, 99.6% were registered as male. The name sits firmly on the male side of the spectrum, with only a handful of female registrations across the entire dataset.
Phillip as a male name
- Ranked #626 in 2024
- 450 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1960 (6,043 births)
Phillip as a female name
- Ranked #18,490 in 2005
- 5 female births in 2005
- Peak: 1985 (39 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Phillip appears almost entirely male. Of the 216,746 people counted with this name, 99.9% were male and only a very small share were female.
Popularity
Phillip: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Phillip from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1950s, with 52,646 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1950s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Phillip 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 Phillip during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Phillips live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. California, Texas, Illinois recorded the most babies named Phillip, while Vermont, Wyoming, Rhode Island recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 6,010 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Phillip
The given name Phillip has its origins in the ancient Greek language. It is derived from the Greek word "Philos", meaning "lover" or "friend", and "hippos", meaning "horse". The name Phillip, therefore, translates to "lover of horses" or "friend of horses".
In ancient Greece, horses were highly revered animals, and the name Phillip was often associated with individuals who had a strong connection or affinity with these noble creatures. The name gained popularity during the classical period of Greek history, which spanned from the 5th to the 4th century BCE.
One of the earliest and most notable historical references to the name Phillip can be found in the works of ancient Greek historians, who documented the life and accomplishments of Philip II of Macedon. Born in 382 BCE, Philip II was the father of Alexander the Great and is credited with transforming the Kingdom of Macedon into a formidable military power.
During the Middle Ages, the name Phillip spread across Europe, particularly in regions influenced by the Byzantine Empire and the Eastern Orthodox Church. It was often used as a Christian name, with several saints bearing the name, including Saint Philip the Apostle and Saint Philip Neri.
Throughout history, several notable figures have carried the name Phillip. One of the most famous was Philip the Arab, who ruled as Roman Emperor from 244 to 249 CE. He is notable for being the first Roman Emperor to have been born outside of the Roman Empire.
In the 16th century, Philip II of Spain, born in 1527 and died in 1598, was a prominent figure who ruled one of the largest empires in the world at that time. His reign saw the expansion of Spanish territories and the establishment of a global empire.
Another significant figure was Philip IV of France, born in 1268 and died in 1314. He played a crucial role in the conflict between the French monarchy and the Catholic Church, leading to the temporary relocation of the Papacy to Avignon.
In literature, the name Phillip has been immortalized in works such as "The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark" by William Shakespeare, where the character of Polonius has a son named Laertes.
The name Phillip has also been carried by notable scientists and philosophers, including Philip Melanchthon, a 16th-century German reformer and collaborator of Martin Luther, and Philip Sidney, a 16th-century English poet and courtier.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Phillip
People
Phillip + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Phillip 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
Phillip: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Phillip?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 238,727 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Phillip 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 1,436 US residents.
Is Phillip a common name?
We classify Phillip as "Common". It ranks above 99.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 312,450 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Phillip most popular?
The single biggest year for Phillip was 1960, when 6,072 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Phillip is about 52 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Phillip in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 216,750 people with the name Phillip, or 71.76 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #258 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 Phillip 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 Phillip?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Phillip appears almost entirely male. Of the 216,746 people counted with this name, 99.9% 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 Phillip?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Phillip is White at 72.0%. The next largest groups are Black (13.0%) and Hispanic (7.7%). 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 Phillip most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Phillip in the 2020 Census, accounting for 72.0% (156,075 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 Phillip in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Phillip a male name?
Yes, 99.6% of people registered as Phillip 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 Phillip still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Phillip 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 Phillip 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 people have Phillip as a first name?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.