Philander

Boys' name

Friend of man

Philander has been given to 297 babies in the U.S. since 1910. It was used fewer than 5 times in 2025, so it doesn't appear in the latest year's list — today it's a genuinely uncommon pick. Its peak year was 1964, with 15 recorded.

Babies named Philander, 2004

1 in 764,000

Philander over time, 1880–2025

Boys

Based on births in the U.S. Babies given the name each year. Hover the chart — or focus it and use the arrow keys — for any year. Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Philander: meaning, origin, and history

Friend of man

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Philander means

Philander means “friend of man”.

Documented naming usage and pronunciation

Philander is used in English (Archaic) and Greek Mythology (Latinized).

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 297 boys were recorded with the name Philander between 1910 and 2004. Its highest annual count was 15 in 1964; its best national rank was #1,395 in 1910.

Sources & methodologyReferences, data & attribution

Meaning, origin, and language notes draw on the references below.

American popularity figures use published Social Security Administration records for this exact spelling. Counts below five for a name, sex, and year are omitted.

U.S. Social Security Administration: national name data and limitations

How common is Philander?

Philander had fewer than 5 recorded uses in 2025, so these figures use 2004, the last year it was published.

Among all babies, 2004: 1 in 764,000; 5 of 3,820,181 births
Among boys only: 1 in 397,000; <0.01% of boys
Rank, 2004: Unranked; Fewer than 5 uses
Coin-flip room size: 529,591 kids; Even odds of a second one

Where Philander sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Liam (20,818)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 2004 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.

Class of 20Under 1%

Class of 30Under 1%

Grade of 100Under 1%

School of 500Under 1%

Put another way: gather 529,591 children born in 2004 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Philander. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Philanders were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Philander was born before 1967 — so the typical Philander is around 58 today.

Median birth year: 1967; About 58 years old
Biggest decade: 1960s; 24.9% of all use
Born in the last 25 years: 21.5%; Spread across generations
Recorded since 1950: 239; People you could plausibly meet

Choose a decade

1960s — 24.9% of all recorded uses (74).

Is Philander rising or falling?

Rank movement and count movement can disagree — the number of distinct names in use keeps growing, so a name holding a steady count still slides down the list. Both are shown.

Rank vs 1 year ago: —; Not ranked then
Rank vs 5 years ago: New entry; Not ranked then
Rank vs 10 years ago: —; Not ranked then
Births vs 10 years ago: —; Not published both years
Share of its own peak: 0%; Peak was 1964 (15)
Years since peak: 61; Years
Year-to-year steadiness: Volatile; 35.9% average annual change
Best rank ever: #1,395; 1910

Where Philander is used

Across 1910–2025, Philander was most concentrated in New York — about 1 in — boys, against 1 in 2,664,768 across all states with data.

00 per 100,000

State popularity map

Most concentrated

1New York1 in —

Shading is the share of that state's recorded boys given this name, not the raw count — otherwise the map would just show which states are biggest. Unshaded states have no published records for this period. U.S. birth records suppress state-year counts below 5; state counts therefore don't add up to the national total. Every state links to its full rankings. Philander has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Philander by the numbers

The raw record for each sex the name is used for.

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025: Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago: —
Best rank ever: #1,395; 1910
Peak year: 1964; 15 that year
First recorded: 1910
Last recorded: 2004
All-time count: 297
Count in 2025: Under 5

Names similar to Philander

Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.

Sibling names for Philander

Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.

For a sister

Lanette Zina Kenneth Zena Twyla Jacquline Sarita Kandy

For a brother

Richie Kennedy Greggory Lyndon Berry Robby Chet Darron

Explore around Philander

Top names of 1964, Philander's peak year The 1960s in full Other names that peaked in 1910 Boys' names starting with P