Philip
Top 1000
About Philip
Philip, the name of one of the 12 apostles, is still favored by parents in search of a solid boys' classic that is less neutral than Robert or John and more distinctive than Daniel or Matthew and has many historic, royal ties.
Famous bearers include Saint Philip and King Philip the Great, who was the father of Alexander the Great, plus there have been numerous other French and Spanish rulers named Philip.
Thanks to the Duke of Edinburgh, though, Philip has a certain built-in reserve, somewhat straight and staid.
When it comes to nicknames, you're not limited to the midcentury Phil -- more lively ones include Pip and Flip.
The name can also be spelled Phillip; that spelling is consistently used almost exactly as much as this spelling, and in 2017 there were exactly as many baby Phillips as there were baby Philips.
Some other modern Philip namesakes are writer Roth, late actor Philip Seymour Hoffman, architect Johnson, and composer Glass. Model Eva Herzigova named her baby Philip.
Philip comes via Latin from the Greek and was a Top 100 choice for a century, before fading in the late-1980s. In literature, Philip Pirrip is the full name of Pip from Great Expectations. Other Philips appear in the novels of Jane Austen, George Eliot, and William Thackeray -- not to mention Raymond Chandler's detective Philip Marlowe.
Pronounced FIL-up.
As of October 2026, Philip ranked #528 in US births in 2025 SSA, peaked at #52 in 1941, Nameberry popularity #227.
Editor: Sophie Kihm
Sources: US popularity data is from the Social Security Administration. Meanings and origins are from Nameberry's name references.
Popularity & trends
Data table
| Year | US rank | Births | Per million |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | #389 | 799 | 416 |
| 2015 | #433 | 706 | 368.3 |
| 2016 | #435 | 712 | 375.2 |
| 2017 | #426 | 729 | 393.9 |
| 2018 | #437 | 693 | 381.6 |
| 2019 | #439 | 696 | 387.9 |
| 2020 | #452 | 658 | 381.2 |
| 2021 | #452 | 675 | 385.8 |
| 2022 | #493 | 618 | 354 |
| 2023 | #499 | 605 | 353.7 |
| 2024 | #521 | 586 | 340.1 |
| 2025 | #528 | 568 | 332.5 |
World rankings
Similar names
These 20 names were selected by our users looking for other names like Philip.
- Peter
- Edward
- Martin
- Abraham
- Paul
- Timothy
- Francis
- Robert
- John
- Patrick
- Richard
- Lawrence
- Leonard
- Frederick
- Raymond
- Joseph
- Victor
- Charles
- Lewis
- Louis
Philip on lists
Famous Philips
- Philip I
III, Dukes of Burgundy
- Philip I and II
Kings of Macedon
- Philip
Biblical apostle
- Philip I
V, Kings of Spain
- Philip I
VI, Kings of France
- Philip III
King of Navarre
- Philip Leopold Lewis Marie
King of Belgium
- Philip of Swabia
King of Germany
- Philip
King of Sweden
- Philip aka Metacomet
King of the Native American Wampanoag people
- Philip Mountbatten
Prince of the UK; Duke of Edinburgh; husband of Queen Elizabeth II
- Philip Seymour Hoffman
American actor
- Philip Morris Glass
American composer
- Philip Michael Rivers
American NFL football player
- Philip "Phil" Richard Erenberg
American Olympic gymnast
- Philip Pullman
English novelist
- Eugene Joseph "Philip" Carey
American actor
- Philip Reeve
English novelist
- Philip Kindred Dick
American novelist
- Philip Milton Roth
American novelist
- Philip Levine
American Poet Laureate
- Philip Guston (born Phillip Goldstein)
American painter
- Philip Douglas "Phil" Jackson
American basketball coach and team president
- Philip David Charles "Phil" Collins
English musician
- Philip Hampson "Phil" Knight
American co,founder of Nike
- Philip John "Phil" Keoghan
New Zealand host of TV's "The Amazing Race"
- Philip "Phil" Michael Lester
English radio host and internet personality known as AmazingPhil
- Philip "Phil" Jamieson
lead singer of Australian band Grinspoon
- Philip George Zimbardo
American psychologist
- Phillip Phillips
American singer
- Philip Hamilton
first son of Elizabeth and Alexander Hamilton
- Philip Marsiaj (b. 2011)
son of Czech model and actress Eva Herzigová
- Philip Cairns (b. 1973)
13 year old Irish boy who went and still is currently missing either from Ballyroan or Rathfarnham in south Dublin in 1986
Philip in pop culture
- Philip "Pip" Pirrip
character in Charles Dickens' "Great Expectations"
- Philip Herriton
character in movie "Where Angels Fear to Tread"
- Philip "The Governor
" character on TV's "The Walking Dead"
- Philip "Phil" Dunphy
character on TV's "Modern Family"
- Prince Philip
character in Disney's "Sleeping Beauty"
- Philip J. Fry
main character in animated sitcom "Futurama"
- Prior Philip
a main character in Ken Follett's "The Pillars of Earth"
- Philip Fletcher
main character in G. A. Henty's "St. Bartholomew's Eve"
- Philip
name chosen by both Angela and Pam for their sons on TV's "The Office"
- Philip Maylands
main character in R. M. Ballantyne's "Post Haste"
- Philip Ronan “Lip” Gallagher
character on TV’s “Shameless”
- Philip Wittebane
character from the animated show "The Owl House"