Filip
A masculine name of Slavic origin meaning "lover of horses".
Name Census estimates that about 2,307 living Americans carry the first name Filip. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Filip today is around 18 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Filip births was 2012 (127 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Filip. 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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Filip with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Filip is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 18 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
2.3K
~ 1 in 148,571 Americans
Peak year
2012
127 babies that year
Average age
18
years old
2024 SSA rank
#2,564
Tracked since 1953
Census
Filip in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 3,037 people with the first name Filip, which placed it at #5,588 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
#5,588
National first-name rank
People counted
3.0K
3,037 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
93.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Filip
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Filip is White at 93.4%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (2.6%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (2.0%). 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 Filip 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 Filip at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White93.4% · 2,836
- Hispanic or Latino2.6% · 78
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.0% · 62
- Two or more races1.3% · 40
- Black or African American0.7% · 20
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.0% · 1
Popularity
Filip: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Filip from the 1950s through to the 2020s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 899 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Filip remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Filip 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 Filip during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Filips live
The SSA's state-level files cover 13 states and territories. Illinois, New York, New Jersey recorded the most babies named Filip, while North Carolina, Maryland, Georgia recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 102 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Filip
Filip is a name of Greek origin, derived from the ancient Greek name Philippos, meaning "lover of horses." The name was widely used in ancient Greece and later in the Roman Empire.
The earliest recorded use of the name Filip dates back to the 4th century BC, when it was borne by Philippos II of Macedon, the father of Alexander the Great. Philippos II was a powerful ruler who expanded the Macedonian Empire and laid the foundations for his son's conquests.
In the New Testament, one of the apostles of Jesus is referred to as Philip. This early Christian association contributed to the popularity of the name among early Christians.
During the Middle Ages, the name Filip was widely used across Europe, particularly in Slavic regions. It was popular among the ruling classes, and several notable historical figures bore the name, including Filip I of France (1052-1108), a French king from the House of Capet.
Another famous bearer of the name was Filip IV of Spain (1605-1665), known as "Felipe IV" in Spanish, who reigned during the Golden Age of Spanish art and literature. Under his patronage, artists such as Diego Velázquez and Pedro Calderón de la Barca flourished.
In the 19th century, Filipino revolutionary leader and writer José Rizal (1861-1896) was also known by his name's Spanish variant, "Felipe." He played a crucial role in the Philippine independence movement against Spanish colonial rule.
Other notable historical figures with the name Filip include:
1. Filip II (Macedon) (382-336 BC), King of Macedon and father of Alexander the Great.
2. Filip I of France (1052-1108), King of France from 1060 to 1108.
3. Filip II of Spain (1527-1598), King of Spain and Portugal, known as "Felipe II" in Spanish.
4. Filip III of Spain (1578-1621), King of Spain and Portugal, known as "Felipe III" in Spanish.
5. Filip I, Duke of Burgundy (1346-1404), a powerful ruler and ally of the French crown during the Hundred Years' War.
People
Filip + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Filip 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
Filip: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Filip?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2,307 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Filip 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 148,571 US residents.
Is Filip a common name?
We classify Filip as "Rare". It ranks above 94.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,341 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Filip most popular?
The single biggest year for Filip was 2012, when 127 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Filip is about 18 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Filip in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 3,037 people with the name Filip, or 1.01 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #5,588 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 Filip 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 Filip?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Filip appears almost entirely male. Of the 3,038 people counted with this name, 99.8% 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 Filip?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Filip is White at 93.4%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (2.6%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (2.0%). 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 Filip most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Filip in the 2020 Census, accounting for 93.4% (2,836 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 Filip in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Filip a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Filip 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 Filip still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Filip 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 Filip 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 have the name Filip?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.