Philip: Meaning of Baby Name Philip

About the Name Philip

Philip descends from the Greek Phílippos (Φίλιππος), composed of philos (loving, beloved) and hippos (horse) — yielding "lover of horses" or "horse-friend." The name has been continuously used in Christian-influenced naming traditions for nearly two millennia, anchored by the apostle Saint Philip (one of the original Twelve Apostles, mentioned in John 1:43–51 and in Acts 8 as the evangelist who baptized the Ethiopian eunuch).

The name has additional historical anchors through the iconic Macedonian king Philip II of Macedonia (382–336 BCE), the father of Alexander the Great; Spanish king Philip II of Spain (1527–1598); and British prince Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (1921–2021, the longest-serving consort in British history, husband of Queen Elizabeth II).

Notable other bearers include American Civil Rights leader Philip Randolph (using Randolph as a surname, 1889–1979, the iconic African-American labor leader); American author Philip Roth (using Roth as a surname, 1933–2018, the Pulitzer Prize-winning American novelist of American Pastoral 1997); and the iconic American science-fiction writer Philip K. Dick (using Dick as a surname, 1928–1982). Philip held a US top-50 boys' rank from 1880 through 2000 — over a century of consistent American popularity. The name has receded slightly since but remains in steady use, currently sitting in the US top 300 boys' rank. The name's appeal is its layered Greek-classical-Christian pedigree combined with two firm syllables — the in-built apostolic religious anchor, the strong Philip historical/literary cultural anchors, and tonal versatility from rural-American to upwardly-mobile-American. The name reads as both classical-Greek and contemporary American. Common nicknames Phil (the dominant warm short form, casual and adult, also a popular standalone name on its own), Phi, Pip, Flip, and the rare Lippy each carry distinct registers; the alternate spellings Philip and Phillip have their own SSA tracking. International forms include Philippe (French), Filippo (Italian), Felipe (Spanish/Portuguese), Filip (Slavic), and the original Greek Phílippos.

Source: U.S. Social Security Administration name data, 1880–2024 (methodology). By Marvin Tang.

Quick Facts About Philip

1,414

French baby names in our dictionary

571

French male names

120

6-letter P-names in our dictionary

343

P-male names total

1880–2025

years of US SSA records (134 total)

317,464

total US births named Philip (all years)

US Popularity History (1880–2025)

📉 Falling fast: Philip dropped 76 places in the US boys ranking over the last 5 years (#452 in 2020 → #528 in 2025).

Annual US births named Philip by gender, from US Social Security Administration records. Peak year: 1953 with 6,279 boys named Philip (boy rank #61 that year).

Where it stands today: in 2025, ranked #528 for boys (568 US births). That's 467 places below its 1953 peak.

Source: US Social Security Administration. Limitations: US birth-certificate data only; names appearing fewer than 5 times in a given year are suppressed for privacy; spelling variants are counted separately. For names that ranked outside the US top 100 before year 2000, only the years they reached the top 100 are shown — the chart may have gaps for less-popular historical names.

Where in the US Is Philip Most Popular?

Average boy-name rank within each state across 2016–2025 SSA records. A lower number means the name appears closer to the top of that state's boys-name rankings — a per-capita measure that isn't biased toward large states. For Philip the strongest states are District of Columbia, New Hampshire, Maine.

Strongest boys-name states

#	State	Avg rank	Births
1	District of Columbia	#185	33
2	New Hampshire	#199	28
3	Maine	#249	16
4	Connecticut	#275	92
5	Massachusetts	#299	174
6	New York	#345	478
7	New Jersey	#357	214
8	Virginia	#376	203
9	Pennsylvania	#385	268
10	Minnesota	#405	135

Weakest boys-name states

#	State	Avg rank	Births
1	Arizona	#694	68
2	Colorado	#647	77
3	Texas	#592	447
4	Arkansas	#590	16
5	Kentucky	#589	66
6	Tennessee	#582	109
7	Missouri	#573	98
8	Michigan	#535	154
9	Georgia	#525	182
10	Florida	#517	293

Source: SSA state-level baby-name dataset 2016–2025. States with fewer than 3 years of data for Philip in this window are excluded. Births < 5 in a given state-year are suppressed by SSA for privacy.

Variant Forms

Name	Meaning	Gender	Origin
Phil	Fond Of Horses. Form Of Phillip.	Male	English
Philippe	Loves Horses	Male	French
Phillip	Fond Of Horses. One Of The Biblical 12 Apostles.	Male	English

Famous People Named Philip

4 notable figures from history and culture who share the name Philip.

Philip Dormer Stanhope Chesterfield was an English statesman and author known for his wit and oratory skills.
Philip Larkin was considered as one of the greatest English poets of the latter half of the twentieth century.
Philip Roth is one of the acclaimed American writers of his generation.
Philip Seymour Hoffman — Movie Actor (1967)

Browse more famous Philips and similar first names →

Looking for names like Philip?

A dedicated page with 60+ related names — spelling variants, rhymes, alliterations, same-origin matches, and shared meaning concepts — lives at its own URL so each kind of similarity gets a deeper treatment than fits here.

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Compare Philip to Other Popular Names

Side-by-side popularity charts and crossover years for Philip against today's most popular boys-name peers (top 8 by US births in the last 10 years of SSA records).

Philip vs Liam 239,320 births since 2014

Philip vs Noah 230,181 births since 2014

Philip vs Oliver 164,076 births since 2014

Philip vs William 159,918 births since 2014

Philip vs James 157,850 births since 2014

Philip vs Elijah 153,351 births since 2014

Philip vs Benjamin 147,449 births since 2014

Philip vs Lucas 141,302 births since 2014

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