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Philomena

#1,920 in 2025Girls' name

Beloved

Philomena has been given to 9,951 babies in the U.S. since 1880. In 2025 it ranked #1,920 of 17,293 girls’ names in use. Its peak year was 1922, with 308 recorded.

Babies named Philomena, 2025

1 in 32,800

Philomena over time, 1880–2025

Girls
010020030040018801900192019401960198020002020

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Philomena: meaning, origin, and history

Beloved

Ancient Greek

What Philomena means

Philomena means “beloved”, associated with Philouménē.

Dictionary etymologyReferences, data & attribution

From Latin Philomēna, from Ancient Greek Φιλουμένη (Philouménē, literally “beloved”). Name of an alleged early martyr whose remains were discovered in 1802 in Rome. Doublet of Philomene.

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

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Origin, language, and formation

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

Philomena comes through Latin Philomēna and Ancient Greek Φιλουμένη.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Philomene.

Pronunciation and spelling

In English, Philomena is pronounced /ˌfɪləˈmiːnə/.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 9,951 girls were recorded with the name Philomena between 1880 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 308 in 1922; its best national rank was #355 in 1915.

Over 5 years its rank rose, from #2,131 in 2020 to #1,920 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank rose, from #2,372 in 2015 to #1,920 in 2025.

How common is Philomena?

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

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 32,800
101 of 3,315,165 births
Among girls only
1 in 15,900
<0.01% of girls
Rank, 2025
#1,920
of 17,293 girls’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
22,753 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Philomena 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 5002%

Put another way: gather 22,753 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Philomena. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Philomenas were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Philomena was born before 1926 — so the typical Philomena is around 99 today.

Median birth year
1926
About 99 years old
Biggest decade
1920s
27.2% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
14.1%
Spread across generations
Recorded since 1950
2,503
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

1920s — 27.2% of all recorded uses (2,711).

Is Philomena 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
−101
Places dropped
Rank vs 5 years ago
+211
Places climbed
Rank vs 10 years ago
+452
Places climbed
Births vs 10 years ago
1.29×
More babies than then
Share of its own peak
32.8%
Peak was 1922 (308)
Years since peak
103
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Shifting
18.4% average annual change
Best rank ever
#355
1915

Spellings of Philomena

Philomena is the most-used spelling, taking 62.0% of the 16,045 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 Philomena is used

Across 2016–2025, Philomena was most concentrated in Kansas — about 1 in 7,143 girls, against 1 in 22,307 across all states with data. It was least common in Texas (1 in 50,000).

214 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1Kansas1 in 7,143
  2. 2Pennsylvania1 in 9,091
  3. 3Massachusetts1 in 12,500
  4. 4New Jersey1 in 12,500
  5. 5Minnesota1 in 14,286
  6. 6New York1 in 14,286
  7. 7Ohio1 in 14,286
  8. 8Michigan1 in 20,000

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.

Philomena around the world

Where Philomena 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
    #2,788
    in 2025
  • Ireland
    1964–2025
    #885
    in 2025
  • France
    1926–2004
    #5,620
    in 2004
  • Canada
    2005–2024
    #2,710
    in 2024
  • South Australia
    1945–2013
    #818
    in 2013

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, Central Statistics Office, Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques, Statistics Canada and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS 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.

Notable people named Philomena

People whose public names include Philomena, 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.

Philomena in other languages

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

Philomina

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

Philomena by the numbers

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

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
#1,920
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Up 211
Best rank ever
#355
1915
Peak year
1922
308 that year
First recorded
1880
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
9,951
Count in 2025
101

Names similar to Philomena

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

MagdalenaPhilamenaPhilippaFilomenaMarlenaMarielenaPhilenaRowenaMariaelenaMaddalenaAzucenaAleenaPhillisMilenaChristenaMakenaJimenaSalenaPhilomeneCelenaKaleenaMileenaSheenaSiena

Names with a curve like Philomena

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

IonaIoneBernieceIolaMaurineWinnifredUnaEldaAgathaAlineLeotaEleanore

Sibling names for Philomena

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 Philomena

Top names of 1922, Philomena's peak yearThe 1920s in fullOther names that peaked in 1915Girls' names starting with P