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🔥Phoebe

FEE-bee
Greek
"radiant, shining one"
Madison Dresler
By Madison Dresler
Updated Wed Jun 04 2025

Phoebe Origin and Meaning

The name Phoebe is a girl's name of Greek origin meaning "radiant, shining one".

Bubbly, bright, and versatile, Phoebe is a name with mythological, biblical, and literary ties. Used since the 17th century, it fell out of fashion in the US during the '60s, only to be revived after it appeared in the 90's TV favorite, Friends.

Since then, it's been on the rise and as of 2024, it sits in the US Top 200 and was given to around 1640 girls. Across the pond in the UK, it's a Top 50 choice, reaching #20 in England and Wales in 2023.

Phoebe is the Latin variation of the Greek name Phoibe, which derived from phoibos, meaning "bright." In classical mythology, Phoebe is the by-name of Artemis, goddess of the moon and of hunting. The masculine version of Phoebe is Phoebus.

In the New Testament, Phoebe is a church deaconess. Shakespeare used the name (spelled Phebe) for a rustic denizen of the forest in As You Like It, Phoebe Pynchon was a cheerful young girl in Hawthorne's The House of Seven Gables, while Phoebe is Holden Caulfield's sympathetic, precocious ten-year-old sister in Catcher in the Rye.

Bill and Melinda Gates used Phoebe for their daughter.

# 183 in the US

Phoebe Rank in US Top 1000

# 18 on Nameberry

Phoebe Rank in Nameberry Top 1000

Popularity of the name Phoebe

20 Names Similar to Phoebe

These 20 names were selected by our users that were looking for other names like Phoebe.

Famous People Named Phoebe

  • Phoebe Belle Cates
    American actress
  • Phoebe Gilman
    Canadian,American children's author
  • Phoebe Elizabeth Apperson Hearst
    mother of newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst
  • Phoebe Mills
    American Olympic athlete
  • (Sarah) Phoebe Nicholls
    English actress
  • Phoebe Philo
    British fashion designer
  • Phoebe Snow (born Phoebe Ann Laub)
    American singer,songwriter
  • Phoebe Ann Mosey
    birth name of Annie Oakley, American sharpshooter
  • Phoebe Jane Elizabeth Tonkin
    Australian actress
  • Phoebe Harriet Dynevor
    English actress; daughter of actress Sally Dynevor
  • Phoebe Stone
    author, illustrator
  • Phoebe Jennifer Tomlinson
    sister of singer Louis Tomlinson of One Direction
  • Phoebe Dahl
    fashion designer and granddaughter of the writer Roald Dahl
  • Phoebe Pearl
    daughter of American novelist Jennifer Weiner
  • Phoebe McCurtain Lithgow (b. 1983)
    daughter of American actor John Lithgow
  • Phoebe Gittins
    daughter of actor Paul Gittins and screenwriter Philippa Boyens
  • Phoebe Pryce (b. 1990)
    daughter of actor Jonathan Pryce
  • Phoebe Miu (b. 1991)
    daughter of actors Jaime Chik and Michael Miu
  • Phoebe Joseph (b. 2001)
    daughter of actress Sherry Stringfield and Larry Joseph
  • Phoebe Adele Gates (b. 2002)
    daughter of Microsoft's Bill and Melinda Gates
  • Phoebe Margaret Cake (b. 2009)
    daughter of actors Julianne Nicholson and Jonathan Cake
  • Phoebe Sylvia Rachel True
    Frost (b. 2011), daughter of actor Jim True,Frost
  • Phoebe Herring (b. 2015)
    daughter of comedian Richard Herring

The name Phoebe in Pop Culture

  • Phoebe
    Greek mythological titaness of the oracle of Delphi, mother of Leto and grandmother of Artemis and Apollo
  • Phoebe Buffay
    character on TV series "Friends"
  • Phoebe Tyler Wallingford
    character on soap "All My Children"
  • Phoebe Halliwell
    character on TV series "Charmed"
  • Phoebe Heyerdahl
    character on animated series "Hey Arnold!"
  • Phoebe Terese
    character in the "Magic School Bus" series
  • Phoebe Caulfield
    Holden's younger sister in "The Catcher in the Rye" by J. D. Salinger
  • Phoebe Lichten
    character in film "Phoebe in Wonderland"
  • Phoebe Throssel
    character in film "Quality Street"
  • Phoebe Winterbottom
    character in "Walk Two Moons" by Sharon Creech
  • Phoebe Thunderman
    character on TV series "The Thundermans"
  • Phoebe Kendall
    main character in "Generation Dead" by Daniel Waters
  • Phoebe Grizelda Howell
    main character in "Phoebe and Her Unicorn" by Dana Simpson
  • Phoebe D'Ysquith
    character in musical, "A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder"
  • Phoebe Forrester
    character on soap opera "The Bold and the Beautiful", Steffy Forrester's twin sister
  • Phoebe Grey
    Christian and Ana's daughter in the 50 Shades of Grey trilogy
  • Capt. Phoebe Callisto
    Spaceship captain & mother in the Disney Jr cartoon series "Miles from Tomorrowland"
  • Phoebe
    character in "Toad Patrol"
  • Phoebe Hawthorne
    character in Mother,Daughter Book Club series by Heather Vogel Frederick
  • Phoebe
    Moon of Saturn

International Variations of the name Phoebe

  • Pheobe
    Greek
  • Phebe
    Italian

The name Phoebe in Nameberry Blog Posts

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