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Phineas

#1,616 in 2025Boys' name

Variant of Phinehas

Phineas has been given to 2,803 babies in the U.S. since 1880. In 2025 it ranked #1,616 of 13,926 boys’ names in use. Its peak year was 2016, with 142 recorded.

Babies named Phineas, 2025

1 in 31,600

Phineas over time, 1880–2025

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Phineas: meaning, origin, and history

Variant of Phinehas

Ancient Greek and Egyptian

What Phineas means

Phineas is a variant of Phinehas.

Meaning behind the documented name family

The name developed through Phineas → Phinehas → pꜣ-nḥsj. The family’s proposed meaning is “the + Nubian”, recorded in Egyptian with the source elements pꜣ and nḥsj.

Dictionary etymologyReferences, data & attribution

From Ancient Greek Φινέας (Phinéas), alternative form of Φινεύς (Phineús). See Phineus. Alternative source from Hebrew (פִינְחָס). See Phinehas.

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

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Origin, language, and formation

Phineas is used in English. Its origins include Ancient Greek and Egyptian.

Phineas comes through Ancient Greek Φινέας and Hebrew (פִינְחָס).

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Phinehas and Φινεύς.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 2,803 boys were recorded with the name Phineas between 1880 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 142 in 2016; its best national rank was #1,030 in 1880.

Over 5 years its rank fell, from #1,434 in 2020 to #1,616 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank rose, from #1,664 in 2015 to #1,616 in 2025.

How common is Phineas?

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

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 31,600
105 of 3,315,165 births
Among boys only
1 in 16,300
<0.01% of boys
Rank, 2025
#1,616
of 13,926 boys’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
21,886 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Phineas 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 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 21,886 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Phineas. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Phineass were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Phineas was born before 2014 — so the typical Phineas is around 11 today.

Median birth year
2014
About 11 years old
Biggest decade
2010s
42.5% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
87.3%
A modern name
Recorded since 1950
2,673
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

2010s — 42.5% of all recorded uses (1,190).

Is Phineas 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
−70
Places dropped
Rank vs 5 years ago
−182
Places dropped
Rank vs 10 years ago
+48
Places climbed
Births vs 10 years ago
1.11×
More babies than then
Share of its own peak
73.9%
Peak was 2016 (142)
Years since peak
9
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Shifting
16.5% average annual change
Best rank ever
#1,030
1880

Spellings of Phineas

Phineas is the most-used spelling, taking 82.7% of the 3,388 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 Phineas is used

Across 2016–2025, Phineas was most concentrated in Utah — about 1 in 5,556 boys, against 1 in 20,609 across all states with data. It was least common in Tennessee (1 in 100,000).

118 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1Utah1 in 5,556
  2. 2Ohio1 in 8,333
  3. 3New York1 in 12,500
  4. 4Idaho1 in 16,667
  5. 5Missouri1 in 16,667
  6. 6Virginia1 in 16,667
  7. 7California1 in 20,000
  8. 8Iowa1 in 20,000

Shading is the share of that state's recorded boys 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.

Phineas around the world

Where Phineas 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
    #2,664
    in 2025
  • France
    2020–2022
    #5,824
    in 2022
  • Canada
    2008–2024
    #2,550
    in 2024

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques and Statistics Canada. ONS data under Open Government Licence v3.0. INSEE data under Licence Ouverte / Etalab 2.0. StatCan data under Statistics Canada Open Licence.

Notable people named Phineas

People whose public names include Phineas, 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.

Phineas in other languages

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

FinneasPinchasPhinehas

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

Phineas by the numbers

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

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
#1,616
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Down 182
Best rank ever
#1,030
1880
Peak year
2016
142 that year
First recorded
1880
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
2,803
Count in 2025
105

Names similar to Phineas

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

PhinneasPhilippePhilippPhilemonFinneasPhinehasAndreasPhillipsMiqueasPhilbertPhiloPhillipeAeneasPhilmorePhilipePhilPhillOseasPhillipPhilanderPhilopaterPleasPhillippePhilip

Names with a curve like Phineas

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

AtreyuDemariAvenTaydenJetRayyanRoganJaelViktorOskarKorbynAamir

Sibling names for Phineas

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 Phineas

Top names of 2016, Phineas's peak yearThe 2010s in fullOther names that peaked in 1880Boys' names starting with P