Philly

Boys' name

Fond of horses, through Philippa

Philly has been given to 5 babies in the U.S. since 1995. 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 1995, with 5 recorded.

Babies named Philly, 1995

1 in 732,000

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Philly: meaning, origin, and history

Fond of horses, through Philippa

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Philly means

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

Dictionary etymologyReferences, data & attribution

First syllable of Philadelphia or Philippa + -y.

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

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Origin, language, and formation

Philly is used in English.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Philippa and Philip.

Pronunciation and spelling

In English, Philly is pronounced /ˈfɪl.i/.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 5 boys were recorded with the name Philly between 1995 and 1995. Its highest annual count was 5 in 1995; its best national rank was #9,916 in 1995.

How common is Philly?

Philly had fewer than 5 recorded uses in 2025, so these figures use 1995, the last year it was published.

Among all babies, 1995: 1 in 732,000; 5 of 3,660,254 births
Among boys only: 1 in 381,000; <0.01% of boys
Rank, 1995: Unranked; Fewer than 5 uses
Coin-flip room size: 507,420 kids; Even odds of a second one

Where Philly 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 1995 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 507,420 children born in 1995 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Philly. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Phillys were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Philly was born before 1995 — so the typical Philly is around 30 today.

Median birth year: 1995; About 30 years old
Biggest decade: 1990s; 100.0% of all use
Born in the last 25 years: 100.0%; A modern name
Recorded since 1950: 5; People you could plausibly meet

Choose a decade

1990s — 100.0% of all recorded uses (5).

Is Philly 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 1995 (5)
Years since peak: 30; Years
Year-to-year steadiness: Not enough data; Too few years
Best rank ever: #9,916; 1995

Spellings of Philly

Philly is not the most common spelling — Billy is, with 35.8% against Philly's <0.01%.

Billy35.8%384,233
Philip32.1%344,036
Phillip29.0%311,561
Phil1.9%20,036
Reilly0.42%4,560
Willy0.37%3,937
Shelly0.20%2,190
Holly0.14%1,541

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.

Philly 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: #9,916; 1995
Peak year: 1995; 5 that year
First recorded: 1995
Last recorded: 1995
All-time count: 5
Count in 2025: Under 5

Names similar to Philly

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

Philix Phinizy Philp Philson Philmon Phillis Phin Philant Phineus Hally Kally Philias Philips Philibert Phinn Phinneaus Phillp Phinley Tolly Philliph Philippos Phinnaeus Elly Nelly

Sibling names for Philly

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

Salena Corrina Darby Alexandrea Iman Breonna Fabiola Berenice

For a brother

Hernan Rashawn Travon Madison Austen Deonte Denton Austyn

Explore around Philly

Top names of 1995, Philly's peak year The 1990s in full Other names that peaked in 1995 Boys' names starting with P