Phoenix
A feminine name of Greek origin representing the mythical bird associated with renewal.
Name Census estimates that about 38,635 living Americans carry the first name Phoenix. It sits at #275 in the overall ranking, outside the top 50 but still well-represented. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 60.3% of registrations being male. The average person named Phoenix today is around 12 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Phoenix births was 2020 (2,648 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Phoenix. 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 Phoenix with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Phoenix was once a predominantly female name but has become increasingly popular for boys in recent decades.
- • Phoenix sits in rare territory as a truly gender-neutral name, given to boys and girls in near-equal numbers.
- • Phoenix is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 12 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
39K
~ 1 in 8,872 Americans
Peak year
2020
2,648 babies that year
Average age
12
years old
2024 SSA rank
#275
Tracked since 1968
Census
Phoenix in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 24,524 people with the first name Phoenix, which placed it at #1,409 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
#1,409
National first-name rank
People counted
25K
24,524 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
8.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
53.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Phoenix
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Phoenix is White at 53.1%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (18.5%) and Two or More Races (11.7%). 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 Phoenix 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 Phoenix at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White53.1% · 13,027
- Hispanic or Latino18.5% · 4,548
- Two or more races11.7% · 2,878
- Black or African American11.7% · 2,871
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.3% · 819
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.6% · 381
Gender
Gender distribution for Phoenix
Phoenix is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 39,000 total registrations, 23,520 (60.3%) were male and 15,480 (39.7%) were female.
Phoenix as a male name
- Ranked #275 in 2024
- 1,227 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2020 (1,534 births)
Phoenix as a female name
- Ranked #421 in 2024
- 734 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2020 (1,114 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Phoenix on both sides of the split. Of the 24,525 people counted with this name, 14,926 were male (60.9%) and 9,599 were female (39.1%).
Popularity
Phoenix: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Phoenix from the 1960s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 17,496 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Phoenix remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Phoenix 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 Phoenix during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Phoenix' live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. California, Texas, Florida recorded the most babies named Phoenix, while Wyoming, Vermont, Rhode Island recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 705 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Phoenix
The name Phoenix originates from the ancient Greek word "phoinix," which means "crimson" or "purple-red." It is derived from the mythical bird, the phoenix, a legendary creature in Greek mythology that cyclically regenerates or is reborn from its own ashes. The phoenix symbolizes renewal, resurrection, and immortality.
The earliest known reference to the phoenix can be found in the ancient Greek and Roman texts, dating back to the 5th century BC. The Greek poet Hesiod mentioned the phoenix in his work "Works and Days," while the Roman scholar Pliny the Elder described the phoenix in detail in his "Natural History."
In ancient Egyptian mythology, the phoenix was associated with the sun god Ra and was known as the "bennu bird." It was believed to be a symbol of the sun's eternal cycle of death and rebirth. The ancient Egyptians depicted the bennu bird as a heron or a crane-like bird with colorful plumage.
The name Phoenix gained popularity in Europe during the Renaissance period, when interest in classical mythology and symbolism resurged. One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Phoenix being used as a given name was in the 16th century.
Some notable historical figures named Phoenix include:
1. Phoenix of Colophon (c. 320-250 BC), a Greek poet and grammarian from ancient Colophon.
2. Phoenix of Byzantium (c. 7th century AD), a Byzantine scholar and grammarian.
3. Phoenix Murati (c. 1521-1593), an Albanian-born Ottoman poet and writer.
4. Phoenix Phetxarating (1633-1703), a Thai prince and writer during the Ayutthaya Kingdom.
5. Phoenix Remillard (1784-1847), a Canadian fur trader and explorer in the early 19th century.
Throughout history, the name Phoenix has been associated with symbolism of rebirth, resilience, and overcoming adversity, making it a popular choice for parents seeking a meaningful and symbolic name for their child.
People
Phoenix + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Phoenix 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
Phoenix: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Phoenix?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 38,635 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Phoenix 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 8,872 US residents.
Is Phoenix a common name?
We classify Phoenix as "Uncommon". It ranks above 99% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 39,000 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Phoenix most popular?
The single biggest year for Phoenix was 2020, when 2,648 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Phoenix is about 12 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Phoenix in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 24,524 people with the name Phoenix, or 8.12 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,409 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 Phoenix 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 Phoenix?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Phoenix on both sides of the split. Of the 24,525 people counted with this name, 14,926 were male (60.9%) and 9,599 were female (39.1%). 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 Phoenix?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Phoenix is White at 53.1%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (18.5%) and Two or More Races (11.7%). 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 Phoenix most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Phoenix in the 2020 Census, accounting for 53.1% (13,027 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 Phoenix in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Phoenix a male name?
Yes, 60.3% of people registered as Phoenix 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 Phoenix still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Phoenix 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 Phoenix 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 Phoenix as a first name?
If you just want to know how many Americans are named Phoenix, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.