Philip
given name · Latin script
Meaning: From the male personal name Philip, ultimately from Greek Philippos, literally ‘lover of horses’
Recorded as a male name· opposite-gender records fall within measured source noise
/fɪlɪp/(machine-generated) pronunciation, model-generated
Philip is a given name written in the Latin script, with more bearers in France than in any other country, where it is the 7th most common given name.
- GBUnited Kingdom≈1 in 416(inferred from the name graph)
- NGNigeria≈1 in 1.2K
- USUnited States1 in 1.5K
carrying the name, as counted by its national register where one exists and as Mondonomo estimates it elsewhere (marked ≈ and "est." on hover). Where a country counts another spelling of the name rather than Philip itself, the figure is that spelling’s, and it is named. One hue, darker where it is more common; hover a country for its figure.
- France (inferred from the name graph)
- #123 (measured from records)
- 7 (measured from records)
- Sources
- 618 (measured from records)
- ≈1 in 416 (inferred from the name graph)
≈350,000 named Philippe, est.
of 15M given names
recorded for this name
Highest-authority source
United Kingdom, est.
measured from records inferred from the name graph
Spellings & scripts(measured from records)
Locally spelled Filip in PL Poland, CZ Czechia, MK North Macedonia, Philippe in FR France, BE Belgium and Phillip in US United States.
Spellings marked ● are how people bearing the name write it in our records, and ○ marks a model's transliteration; click a spelling to open its page.
Meaning & origin(measured from records)
From the male personal name Philip, ultimately from Greek Philippos, literally ‘lover of horses’.
Sources 1
- Encyclopedia of surnames [the complete companion to tracing your names history]
Attested across 10 languages in the etymology graph.
Where in the world(measured from records)
Philip counted together with the spellings and other-language forms grouped with it. Where a register counted another spelling, the row names it.
Sorted by bearers: national registers' counts, and Mondonomo's estimates (≈, est.) where no register counts.
| Country | Most common spelling | Sources | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FR France | #7 | ≈350,000 est. | ≈1 in 195 | 539K | Philippe | 469 |
| US United States | #90 | 223,037 | 1 in 1.5K | 361K | Phillip | 618 |
| NG Nigeria | #260 | ≈180,000 est. | ≈1 in 1.2K | — | Philip | 128 |
| PL Poland | #123 | 176,647as Filip | 1 in 217 | 177K | Filip | 187 |
| GB United Kingdom | #41 | ≈160,000 est. | ≈1 in 416 | 106K | Philip | 389 |
| CZ Czechia | #36 | 100,928as Filip | 1 in 106 | 101K | Filip | 170 |
| BE Belgium | #3 | ≈48,000 est. | ≈1 in 243 | 2.8K | Philippe | 212 |
| MK North Macedonia | #3 | 9,484as Филип | 1 in 224 | 9.5K | Filip | 70 |
Exact figures are national registers' own counts, while figures marked ≈ and est. are Mondonomo’s estimates, counted from our sources and calibrated against those registers; hover one for how far to trust it in that country. A dash means neither exists.
Registers cited: Census Bureau — First Name Frequency 2020 by sex; Census Bureau — Surname Frequency 2010; INSEE — Fichier des prénoms (1900–2024); Surnames of England and Wales (taliesin-arlein.net, Sept 2002 electoral register); dane.gov.pl — PESEL given names (first + second name position, 2026-01-20); MVČR — living population register 2017; Familienaam.be — Belgian family-name frequency (population register); State Statistical Office — living population names. Figures without a register are Mondonomo estimates; see Methodology.
Country figures for a list of names, at full precision, are available under licence rather than by scraping this table (how that works).
Other recorded senses(measured from records)
Philip is also recorded in 5 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.
The name Philip is a classic, masculine name of Greek origin meaning "lover of horses." Associated with royalty and leadership since ancient times, the name also has a strong biblical connection to Philip the Evangelist, a figure known for his service, wisdom, and missionary zeal. It's a timeless name that suggests strength, friendliness, and a noble character.
as a nameBiblical Names Compiled Database
A classic and enduring name of Greek origin, Philip means "lover of horses." It has royal and biblical associations, belonging to one of Jesus's twelve apostles. The name suggests a friendly, noble, and inquisitive character.
as a nameBiblical Names Compiled Database
The name Philip comes from the Greek name Φίλιππος (Philippos), which means "lover of horses" or "friend of horses," derived from the words φίλος (philos), meaning "friend, lover," and ἵππος (hippos), meaning "horse".
as a nameBiblical Names Compiled Database
The name Philip has ancient Greek roots, meaning "lover of horses." It is a classic name with royal and biblical connections, borne by a son of Herod the Great who ruled as a tetrarch during the time of Jesus.
as a nameBiblical Names Compiled Database
The name Philip is of Greek origin (Philippos) and means "friend of horses" or "horse-lover," from the words philos ("friend, lover") and hippos ("horse").
as a nameBiblical Names Compiled Database
Ordered by how much of this spelling's record each language holds, so a sense from a language the name is barely used in sits last rather than first.
Notable people with this name(measured from records)
- Philip II of Macedonb. 385GRKing of Macedon from 359 to 336 BC
- Wilhelm Liebknechtb. 1826DEnot in their usual nameGerman journalist, writer and socialist politician (1826–1900)
- Philip Johnsonb. 1906USAmerican architect (1906–2005)
- Philip Warren Andersonb. 1923USAmerican physicist (1923-2020)
- Philip K. Dickb. 1928USAmerican science fiction author (1928–1982)
- Philip Rothb. 1933USAmerican novelist (1933–2018)
- Philip Kaufmanb. 1936USAmerican film director, screenwriter and film producer
- Phil Collinsb. 1951GBnot in their usual nameEnglish drummer, singer, and songwriter (born 1951)
- Philip Seymour Hoffmanb. 1967USAmerican actor (1967–2014)
- James Milnerb. 1986GBnot in their usual nameEnglish association football player
The ten people covered by the most Wikipedia language editions — a proxy for cross-cultural notability, which favours historical and Western figures over equally prominent contemporary ones — shown by birth year. Source: Wikidata (CC0).
How to address them(machine-generated)
A formal English salutation is built on the surname, so it needs a full name — on its own, a first name only supports the informal form.
Evidence(measured from records)
Attested in 126 sources across 59 countries.
| Country | Register | Year | Count | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| US United States | Census Bureau — First Name Frequency 2020 by sex | 2020 | 223K | #250 |
| PL Poland | dane.gov.pl — PESEL given names (first + second name position, 2026-01-20) | 2026 | 2.2K | #335 |
| PL Poland | dane.gov.pl — PESEL living persons (names) | — | 2.1K | #335 |
| FR France | INSEE — Fichier des prénoms (1900–2024) | 2021 | 1.4K | #2,990 |
| US United States | SSA — National Baby Names (1880–present) | 2025 | 568 | — |
| CZ Czechia | MVČR — living population register 2017 | — | 364 | #720 |
| US United States | Census Bureau — First Name Frequency 2020 by sex | 2020 | 198 | #250 |
| CZ Czechia | naše jména — 2016 MVČR snapshot | — | 182 | #797 |
Reference works 10
- The Oxford Dictionary of Family Names in Britain and Ireland
- Nederlandse FamilienamenBank (Dutch surname bank; ex-Meertens Instituut, now CBG)2007
- Nişanyan Adlar (Turkish given-name national-registry frequency)
- Wikipedia given-name tokens
- Wikipedia surname tokens
- Wikidata name items (native-script + romanized given/family names)
- Rymut, Słownik nazwisk współcześnie w Polsce używanych (10 vols, IJP PAN, Kraków 1992–1994) — every Polish surname in the PESEL register at the end of 1990, with bearer counts nationally and per voivodeship1990
- jeantosti.com — Dictionnaire des noms de famille de France et d'ailleurs (Jean Tosti)
- Søndergaard, Georg, Danske efternavne (Lademann 1984/1991)
- Ethiopian name tokens (GitHub lehagere/ethiopian-names, 40/60 condominium list)
These works list the name; their figures are licensed and are not reproduced here.
Register rows as of the 2026-10-09 data build.
Frequently asked questions
- What does the name Philip mean, and where does it come from?
- From the male personal name Philip, ultimately from Greek Philippos, literally ‘lover of horses’. Recorded by Encyclopedia of surnames [the complete companion to tracing your names history].
- What are other forms of the name Philip?
- In the etymology graph, Felipe, Phillip and Philippe are forms of the same name in other languages; Phil is a recorded short or pet form.
- Is Philip a male or female name?
- Philip is a male name in our records. Opposite-gender entries fall within the cross-gender noise we measure in the source data, so we don't report them as usage.
- In which country does Philip have the most bearers?
- Mondonomo estimates about 348 thousand people named Philippe in France, more than in any other country we hold.
- How common is the name Philip?
- In the United States, the national register counted 223,037 people named Philip in 2020, about 1 in 1.5 thousand residents.
- How common is Philip compared with other names?
- In France, Philip is the 7th most common given name of 754,146 given names recorded there.
- How do you pronounce Philip?
- A machine transcription gives /fɪlɪp/ (IPA) for English.
What do you want to know about Philip?
Nobody replies to these one by one, but what readers ask decides what these pages answer next.
Query this name via API
curl -H "X-API-Key: YOUR_KEY" https://api.mondonomo.ai/api/v1/name-graph/philipThe payload this page is built from: spellings and scripts, countries and languages, related names, and the registers that attest the form. It takes a free API key (1,000 requests a day), which returns what this page shows everyone; the full country table, every register citation and the year-by-year series come with a licensed key, as does bulk access.
About this data
measured from records inferred from the name graph machine-generated
These figures come from the data snapshot of and will change as it is rebuilt.
Statistics are aggregated from the Mondonomo name corpus; related names and etymology are inferred from the name graph; pronunciation and any machine-marked transliterations are model-generated. Read how the numbers are made, including their known failure modes, and where the data comes from.
Reference works we consult — surname dictionaries, official name registers, Wikidata and Wiktionary — are named directly, beside the claims they support. The per-country source counts also include datasets of person records: we publish how many there are and their authority tier, but not their names.
Cite this page Mondonomo, “Philip” — the 7th most common given name in France. Data snapshot 2026-10-10.