Phineas
A masculine given name of Greek origin meaning "enduring".
Name Census estimates that about 2,544 living Americans carry the first name Phineas. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Phineas today is around 15 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Phineas births was 2016 (142 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Phineas. 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 Phineas with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Phineas is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 15 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
2.5K
~ 1 in 134,730 Americans
Peak year
2016
142 babies that year
Average age
15
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,538
Tracked since 1880
Census
Phineas in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,997 people with the first name Phineas, which placed it at #7,584 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
#7,584
National first-name rank
People counted
2.0K
1,997 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.7
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
79.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Phineas
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Phineas is White at 79.5%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (7.7%) and Black (5.2%). 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 Phineas 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 Phineas at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White79.5% · 1,587
- Two or more races7.7% · 153
- Black or African American5.2% · 104
- Hispanic or Latino5.0% · 99
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.4% · 48
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.3% · 6
Popularity
Phineas: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Phineas from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 14 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 1,189 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Phineas remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Phineas 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 Phineas during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Phineas' live
The SSA's state-level files cover 26 states and territories. California, New York, Texas recorded the most babies named Phineas, while Tennessee, Maine, Idaho recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 41 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Phineas
The name Phineas has its origins in the ancient Hebrew language, derived from the word "Pinchas," which means "mouth of brass" or "brazen mouth." It was a name given to individuals who were thought to possess extraordinary oratory skills or the ability to speak with authority.
The earliest known reference to the name Phineas comes from the Old Testament of the Bible. In the Book of Numbers, Phineas was a grandson of Aaron, the brother of Moses, and a priest of the Israelites. His act of zealotry in slaying an Israelite man and a Midianite woman, who were engaging in idolatrous behavior, is described in detail and earned him God's covenant of peace.
One of the earliest recorded individuals bearing the name Phineas was Phineas Fletcher, an English poet and theologian born in 1582. He is best known for his epic poem "The Purple Island," published in 1633, which allegorically depicts the human body and mind.
Another notable figure with the name Phineas was Phineas Gage, an American railroad construction foreman born in 1823. In 1848, he survived an accident in which a large iron rod was driven through his skull, damaging parts of his brain responsible for personality and behavior. His case became a significant contribution to the study of the human brain and its functions.
In the late 18th century, Phineas Quimby, an American philosopher and healer born in 1802, developed a system of metaphysical healing that influenced the emergence of the New Thought movement and the teachings of Mary Baker Eddy, the founder of Christian Science.
Phineas Parkhurst Quimby, born in 1816, was another influential figure in the field of mental healing. His theories and practices laid the foundation for what would later become known as the New Thought movement and the teachings of Christian Science.
Phineas Taylor Barnum, better known as P.T. Barnum, was an American showman and businessman born in 1810. He is widely credited with creating the modern circus and is remembered for his innovative marketing strategies and his famous quote, "There's a sucker born every minute."
These are just a few examples of notable individuals named Phineas throughout history, highlighting the name's long and varied heritage across different fields and cultures.
People
Phineas + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Phineas 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
Phineas: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Phineas?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2,544 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Phineas 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 134,730 US residents.
Is Phineas a common name?
We classify Phineas 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, 2,695 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Phineas most popular?
The single biggest year for Phineas was 2016, when 142 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Phineas is about 15 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Phineas in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,997 people with the name Phineas, or 0.66 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #7,584 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 Phineas 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 Phineas?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Phineas appears almost entirely male. Of the 1,996 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 Phineas?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Phineas is White at 79.5%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (7.7%) and Black (5.2%). 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 Phineas most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Phineas in the 2020 Census, accounting for 79.5% (1,587 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 Phineas in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Phineas a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Phineas 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 Phineas still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Phineas 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 Phineas 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 are named Phineas?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.