boy's name
Phillip
FIL-ip
- Origin Greek
- Gender Boy
- Syllables 2
- Letters 7
- Popularity Top 1000 (US)
- Births on record 317,842
the United States
#651
2025 births
Phillip is a boy's name meaning lover of horses, the doubled-l spelling of Philip. It charts in two markets against Philip's five, and it is falling while the single-l form closer to the Greek is marked stable.
- Phillip is a name of Greek origin.
- Peaked in 1960, when 6,076 babies were given the name.
- It has been falling over the past decade.
- Today about 1 in 7,801 babies in the United States is given this name.
- 2 syllables, with the stress on syllable 1.
Phillip over time
Births per decade in the United States, 1880s to 2020s. The striped bar is the 2020s, still in progress — it covers 2020 to 2025, not a full ten years.
Show the numbers
| Decade | Births |
|---|---|
| 1880s | 898 |
| 1890s | 884 |
| 1900s | 1,161 |
| 1910s | 5,146 |
| 1920s | 9,595 |
| 1930s | 16,602 |
| 1940s | 37,075 |
| 1950s | 52,645 |
| 1960s | 50,632 |
| 1970s | 40,123 |
| 1980s | 46,026 |
| 1990s | 28,036 |
| 2000s | 13,483 |
| 2010s | 7,626 |
| 2020s (to 2025) | 2,959 |
What Phillip means
Phillip means lover of horses. The Greek joins a word for love or affection to the word for a horse, so the name describes an attachment rather than ownership.
Where Phillip comes from
Phillip doubles the l of Philip, from the Greek Philippos — philos, loving, joined to hippos, a horse. The Greek and Latin have one l, and the doubled spelling is an English development with no basis in the source; it became common enough in America to be registered as a name in its own right. Horse-owning marked the aristocratic class in archaic Greece, which is why the name carried social weight, and Philip II of Macedon built the army his son Alexander used to take Persia. The same Greek hippos gives hippopotamus, the river horse.
Phillip in use
Phillip peaked in the United States in 1960, when 6,076 babies were registered, and is falling in our data. It now charts in three of the seven markets we track — 651st in the United States on 425 births, 785th in Canada and 1255th in England and Wales — across 317,842 lifetime births. The single-l Philip holds 363,507 births, charts in five markets and is marked stable, so of the two spellings the one closer to the Greek has held the better position.
How popular is Phillip?
In 2025, Phillip was given to 425 babies in the United States, ranking #651 that year. It is a well-established, commonly used name.
Where Phillip is used
US figures omit any name given to fewer than five babies in a year, so the rarest names are absent from the source rather than absent from use. Data & sources.
Names that peaked alongside Phillip
These names rose and fell in the same era, which is why they tend to sound like they belong together.
Parents who like Phillip also like
Names whose popularity has risen and fallen in step with Phillip over the last century — the same taste, a different name.
2 nicknames for Phillip
Each one is a name in its own right — the figure underneath is how it is doing today, so you can see which short forms are rising and which have faded.
Phillip in other languages
The same name as it is spelled elsewhere — not shortenings, and not different names that merely sound alike. Each one has its own record here.
Sibling names for Phillip
Names from the same era that won't rhyme or share an initial with Phillip — the two things that make a sibling set grate.
Common questions about Phillip
What does the name Phillip mean?
Lover of horses — the Greek philos, loving, joined to hippos, a horse.
Is it Phillip or Philip?
Philip with one l follows the Greek and Latin. Phillip is an English doubling, and it charts in fewer markets.
Which spelling is more common?
Philip, with 363,507 recorded births against Phillip's 315,503 — and Philip is the one our data marks stable.
How popular is Phillip?
651st in the United States, down from a 1960 peak of 6,076 births.
Is Phillip a girl's or a boy's name?
Phillip is given almost entirely to boys in birth records.
How many syllables are in Phillip?
Phillip has 2 syllables.
What are the nicknames for Phillip?
Phillip is usually shortened to Phil and Pip.
Is Phillip a good name?
That is not something records can settle, but they can tell you what you would be choosing. Phillip currently ranks #651 in the United States. It has been falling over the past decade. Everything else — how it sounds with your surname, who it reminds you of — is yours.