Philips

Boys' name

Literal meaning not recorded

Philips has been given to 21 babies in the U.S. since 1928. 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 1938, with 6 recorded.

Babies named Philips, 2018

1 in 703,000

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Philips: meaning, origin, and history

Literal meaning not recorded

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Philips means

Philips is a given name.

Dictionary etymologyReferences, data & attribution

From Philip + genitive (mainly patronymic) suffix -s.

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

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Origin, language, and formation

Philips is used in English.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 21 boys were recorded with the name Philips between 1928 and 2018. Its highest annual count was 6 in 1938; its best national rank was #3,440 in 1938.

How common is Philips?

Philips had fewer than 5 recorded uses in 2025, so these figures use 2018, the last year it was published.

Among all babies, 2018: 1 in 703,000; 5 of 3,516,853 births
Among boys only: 1 in 363,000; <0.01% of boys
Rank, 2018: Unranked; Fewer than 5 uses
Coin-flip room size: 487,541 kids; Even odds of a second one

Where Philips 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 2018 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 487,541 children born in 2018 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Philips. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Philipss were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Philips was born before 1938 — so the typical Philips is around 87 today.

Median birth year: 1938; About 87 years old
Biggest decade: 1930s; 28.6% of all use
Born in the last 25 years: 23.8%; Spread across generations
Recorded since 1950: 10; People you could plausibly meet

Choose a decade

1930s — 28.6% of all recorded uses (6).

Is Philips 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 1938 (6)
Years since peak: 87; Years
Year-to-year steadiness: Not enough data; Too few years
Best rank ever: #3,440; 1938

Spellings of Philips

Philips is not the most common spelling — Philip is, with 52.0% against Philips's <0.01%.

Philip52.0%344,036
Phillip47.1%311,561
Philippe0.46%3,043
Phillips0.20%1,331
Philipp0.15%986
Phillipe0.09%623
Philips<0.01%21

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.

Philips 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: #3,440; 1938
Peak year: 1938; 6 that year
First recorded: 1928
Last recorded: 2018
All-time count: 21
Count in 2025: Under 5

Names similar to Philips

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

Philias Phineus Phinley Philant Philliph Philippos Phillips Phillis Phillipp Phinizy Philson Philmon Phinneas Phinn Phillp Phinnaeus Philipe Philly Philix Philipp Phinneaus Phinehas Philibert Philp

Sibling names for Philips

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

Beverley Melva Marlys Nelda Marlyn Arleen Shirlee Myrna

For a brother

Sherwood Rayford Carol Ned Huey Errol Shirley Boyce

Explore around Philips

Top names of 1938, Philips's peak year The 1930s in full Other names that peaked in 1938 Boys' names starting with P