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Philippa

#2,808 in 2025Girls' name

Fond of horses, through Philip

Philippa has been given to 1,815 babies in the U.S. since 1910. In 2025 it ranked #2,808 of 17,293 girls’ names in use. Its peak year was 2022, with 75 recorded.

Babies named Philippa, 2025

1 in 54,300

Philippa over time, 1880–2025

Girls
02040608018801900192019401960198020002020

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Philippa: meaning, origin, and history

Fond of horses, through Philip

Ancient Greek

What Philippa means

Philippa belongs to the name family reached through Philippa → Philip. Its meaning is “fond of horses”.

Dictionary etymologyReferences, data & attribution

A Latinate feminine form of Philip, recorded in medieval England, but originally pronounced like the masculine form.

Excerpt from Wiktionary: Philippa (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Origin, language, and formation

Philippa is used in English, French and Latin. Its origins include Ancient Greek.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Philip and Philippus.

Pronunciation and spelling

In English, Philippa is pronounced /ˈfɪ.lɪ.pə/.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 1,815 girls were recorded with the name Philippa between 1910 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 75 in 2022; its best national rank was #2,015 in 1918.

Over 5 years its rank rose, from #2,814 in 2020 to #2,808 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank rose, from #2,881 in 2015 to #2,808 in 2025.

How common is Philippa?

Everything below is computed from the 2025 data — the most recent year available.

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 54,300
61 of 3,315,165 births
Among girls only
1 in 26,300
<0.01% of girls
Rank, 2025
#2,808
of 17,293 girls’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
37,672 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Philippa sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Olivia (13,544)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 2025 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 37,672 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Philippa. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Philippas were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Philippa was born before 2011 — so the typical Philippa is around 14 today.

Median birth year
2011
About 14 years old
Biggest decade
2010s
31.0% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
59.6%
A modern name
Recorded since 1950
1,575
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

2010s — 31.0% of all recorded uses (562).

Is Philippa 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
−180
Places dropped
Rank vs 5 years ago
+6
Places climbed
Rank vs 10 years ago
+73
Places climbed
Births vs 10 years ago
1.00×
More babies than then
Share of its own peak
81.3%
Peak was 2022 (75)
Years since peak
3
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Shifting
24.2% average annual change
Best rank ever
#2,015
1918

Spellings of Philippa

Philippa is the most-used spelling, taking 52.5% of the 3,454 babies given a near-identical spelling.

Grouped by closeness of spelling (up to two letter changes), same sex, with a floor on all-time use. It catches Sophia/Sofia and Aiden/Ayden, and misses spellings that sound alike but look different, like Sean and Shawn.

Where Philippa is used

Across 1910–2025, Philippa was most concentrated in California — about 1 in 100,000 girls, against 1 in 240,687 across all states with data. It was least common in Washington (1 in —).

01 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1California1 in 100,000
  2. 2New York1 in 100,000
  3. 3Virginia1 in 100,000
  4. 4Connecticut1 in —
  5. 5Illinois1 in —
  6. 6Massachusetts1 in —
  7. 7New Jersey1 in —
  8. 8Pennsylvania1 in —

Shading is the share of that state's recorded girls 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. Philippa has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Philippa around the world

Where Philippa ranks in official birth records elsewhere in the world. Rankings only — the number of births isn’t comparable between places, so it isn’t shown.

  • England & Wales
    1996–2025
    #337
    in 2025
  • Scotland
    1974–2025
    #632
    in 2025
  • Northern Ireland
    1999–2018
    #434
    in 2018
  • Ireland
    1968–2025
    #544
    in 2025
  • France
    1900–2025
    #659
    in 2025
  • Canada
    1992–2024
    #2,104
    in 2024
  • South Australia
    1944–2013
    #818
    in 2013

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, National Records of Scotland, Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency, Central Statistics Office, Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques, Statistics Canada and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS, NRS, NISRA data under Open Government Licence v3.0. CSO, CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0. INSEE data under Licence Ouverte / Etalab 2.0. StatCan data under Statistics Canada Open Licence.

Philippa by the numbers

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

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
#2,808
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Up 6
Best rank ever
#2,015
1918
Peak year
2022
75 that year
First recorded
1910
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
1,815
Count in 2025
61

Names similar to Philippa

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

PhillippaPhillipPhilomenaPhiliciaPhillisPhillipaPhilomenePhilipPippaPhilanaPhilishaFilippaPhilenaPhilisPhillinaPhilamenaPhinleyPhileciaPhilominaPhionaPhilliciaPhilinaPhilisaPhillys

Sibling names for Philippa

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

Explore around Philippa

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