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Phillis

Girls' name

Variant of Phyllis

Phillis has been given to 3,683 babies in the U.S. since 1882. 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 1949, with 118 recorded.

Babies named Phillis, 2000

1 in 472,000

Phillis over time, 1880–2025

GirlsBoys
05010015018801900192019401960198020002020

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Phillis: meaning, origin, and history

Variant of Phyllis

Ancient Greek

What Phillis means

Phillis is a variant of Phyllis.

Documented naming usage and pronunciation

Phillis is used in English.

Another recorded pronunciation is /ˈfɪl.ɪs/ for Phillis.

Meaning behind the documented name family

The name developed through Phillis → Phyllis. The family’s meaning is “foliage”, recorded in the naming reference for Phyllis.

Origin, language, and formation

Phillis is used in English. Its origins include Ancient Greek.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Phyllis.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 3,677 girls were recorded with the name Phillis between 1882 and 2000. Its highest annual count was 118 in 1949; its best national rank was #800 in 1949.

In the United States, 6 boys were recorded with the name Phillis between 1924 and 1924. Its highest annual count was 6 in 1924; its best national rank was #4,231 in 1924.

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.

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

How common is Phillis?

Phillis had fewer than 5 recorded uses in 2025, so these figures use 2000, the last year it was published.

Among all babies, 2000
1 in 472,000
8 of 3,778,496 births
Among girls only
1 in 227,000
<0.01% of girls
Rank, 2000
Unranked
Fewer than 5 uses
Coin-flip room size
327,383 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Phillis 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 2000 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 327,383 children born in 2000 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Phillis. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Philliss were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Phillis was born before 1948 — so the typical Phillis is around 77 today.

Median birth year
1948
About 77 years old
Biggest decade
1950s
22.4% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
3.3%
Mostly a past generation
Recorded since 1950
1,684
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

1950s — 22.4% of all recorded uses (825).

Is Phillis 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 1949 (118)
Years since peak
76
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Volatile
32.8% average annual change
Best rank ever
#800
1949

Spellings of Phillis

Phillis is not the most common spelling — Phyllis is, with 95.0% against Phillis's 1.1%.

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 Phillis is used

Across 1910–2025, Phillis was most concentrated in Alabama — about 1 in 33,333 girls, against 1 in 111,926 across all states with data. It was least common in Pennsylvania (1 in —).

03 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1Alabama1 in 33,333
  2. 2Mississippi1 in 33,333
  3. 3Arkansas1 in 50,000
  4. 4Georgia1 in 50,000
  5. 5Missouri1 in 50,000
  6. 6Oklahoma1 in 50,000
  7. 7Texas1 in 50,000
  8. 8Illinois1 in 100,000

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. Phillis has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Phillis around the world

Where Phillis 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.

  • South Australia
    1947–1997
    #681
    in 1997

Popularity data from Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0.

Notable people named Phillis

People whose public names include Phillis, backed by Wikidata given-name records and ordered by linked Wikimedia pages. The name may be a middle name.

People data from Wikidata (CC0). Fame is measured, not judged — the order reflects how widely each person is documented, not the U.S. birth records popularity this page is otherwise about.

Phillis in other languages

Cross-language forms and variants of Phillis. Linked forms have their own page here.

Phyllis

Variant forms from Wikidata (CC0). Most are used mainly outside the United States; U.S. birth records statistics cover US usage only.

Phillis by the numbers

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

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
—
Best rank ever
#800
1949
Peak year
1949
118 that year
First recorded
1882
Last recorded
2000
All-time count
3,677
Count in 2025
Under 5

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
—
Best rank ever
#4,231
1924
Peak year
1924
6 that year
First recorded
1924
Last recorded
1924
All-time count
6
Count in 2025
Under 5

Names similar to Phillis

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

PhilisPhilippaPhillipOdalisHollisPhilomenaYarelisYanelisKelisPhilipNayelisAracelisArelisPhylisIdalisAmaryllisEllisDallisJanelisAmarilisArielisPhilanaAnalisWallis

Names with a curve like Phillis

Not spelling — timing. These names rose, peaked and faded in the same years as Phillis, so they read as being from the same moment even when they look nothing alike.

VonnieKathaleenFrediaEvonLaureneErlindaGeorgettaPhylissGaynellEarthaThomasineArnetta

Sibling names for Phillis

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 Phillis

Top names of 1949, Phillis's peak yearThe 1940s in fullOther names that peaked in 1949Girls' names starting with P