Filemon
Derived from Greek, meaning "beloved" or "one who loves".
Name Census estimates that about 364 living Americans carry the first name Filemon. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Filemon today is around 45 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Filemon births was 1928 (13 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Filemon. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
People living today
364
~ 1 in 941,633 Americans
Peak year
1928
13 babies that year
Average age
45
years old
2022 SSA rank
#12,959
Tracked since 1917
Census
Filemon in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 2,215 people with the first name Filemon, which placed it at #7,032 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#7,032
National first-name rank
People counted
2.2K
2,215 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.7
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
91.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Filemon
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Filemon is Hispanic at 91.0%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (7.4%) and White (1.1%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Filemon described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Filemon at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino91.0% · 2,015
- Asian and Pacific Islander7.4% · 163
- White1.1% · 24
- Black or African American0.4% · 9
- Two or more races0.1% · 3
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.0% · 1
Popularity
Filemon: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Filemon from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 80 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1990s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Filemon by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Filemon during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Filemons live
The SSA's state-level files cover 3 states and territories. Texas, California, New Mexico recorded the most babies named Filemon, while New Mexico, California, Texas recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 26 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Filemon
The name Filemon has its origins in Greek culture and language, stemming from the Greek words "philos" meaning "beloved" and "menos" meaning "strength" or "power." This combination suggests that the name Filemon carries the meaning of "beloved strength" or "beloved power."
During ancient times, the name Filemon appeared in various Greek literary works and historical records. One notable mention is in the New Testament of the Bible, where Philemon is addressed in a letter written by the Apostle Paul. This epistle, known as the Epistle to Philemon, dates back to around 60-63 AD and is a personal letter written to Philemon, a Christian leader in Colossae.
The earliest recorded use of the name Filemon can be traced back to ancient Greece, where it was a common name among Greek citizens. One of the earliest known individuals with this name was Philemon, an Athenian poet and writer of the Old Attic Comedy, who lived in the 4th century BC.
Throughout history, several notable figures have borne the name Filemon. One such individual was Philemon, a Greek grammarian and lexicographer who lived in the 7th century AD. He is best known for his work "Lexicon," which was a valuable resource for understanding the Greek language during that era.
Another prominent figure named Filemon was Philemon of Smyrna, a Greek writer and historian who lived in the 3rd century BC. He is credited with writing a history of his native city, Smyrna, which unfortunately has not survived to modern times.
In the realm of Christianity, Saint Philemon is recognized as one of the Seventy Disciples mentioned in the Gospel of Luke. He is venerated as a martyr in the Eastern Orthodox Church and is believed to have been consecrated as a bishop by the Apostle Paul himself.
Filemon Vance (1785-1839) was an American jurist and politician who served as a member of the United States House of Representatives and as the 11th Governor of Ohio.
These are just a few examples of notable individuals throughout history who have borne the name Filemon, showcasing its enduring presence across different cultures, time periods, and fields of endeavor.
People
Filemon + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Filemon as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with F
Other first names starting with F with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Filemon: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Filemon?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 364 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Filemon going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 941,633 US residents.
Is Filemon a common name?
We classify Filemon as "Very Rare". It ranks above 81.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 514 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Filemon most popular?
The single biggest year for Filemon was 1928, when 13 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Filemon is about 45 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Filemon in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 2,215 people with the name Filemon, or 0.73 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #7,032 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Filemon in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Filemon?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Filemon appears almost entirely male. Of the 2,219 people counted with this name, 99.7% were male and only a very small share were female. The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Filemon?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Filemon is Hispanic at 91.0%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (7.4%) and White (1.1%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Filemon most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Filemon in the 2020 Census, accounting for 91.0% (2,015 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Filemon in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Filemon a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Filemon in the SSA data are male. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Filemon still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Filemon in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Filemon can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people are called Filemon?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.