Filmon
A masculine name of Semitic origin meaning "constant" or "persevering".
Name Census estimates that about 17 living Americans carry the first name Filmon. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Filmon today is around 33 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Filmon births was 1993 (7 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Filmon. 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 Filmon with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Filmon. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
17
~ 1 in 20,162,020 Americans
Peak year
1993
7 babies that year
Average age
33
years old
1994 SSA rank
#9,284
Tracked since 1990
Census
Filmon in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 302 people with the first name Filmon, which placed it at #29,353 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
#29,353
National first-name rank
People counted
302
302 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
88.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Filmon
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Filmon is Black at 88.1%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (6.3%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (3.0%). 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 Filmon 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 Filmon at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American88.1% · 266
- Hispanic or Latino6.3% · 19
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.0% · 9
- White1.3% · 4
- Two or more races1.3% · 4
Popularity
Filmon: popularity over time
Babies born per year
Decades
Filmon 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 Filmon during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
| Decade | Male | Female | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1990s | 17 | 0 | 17 |
Origin
Meaning and history of Filmon
The name Filmon has its origins in the Semitic languages, specifically in the ancient Aramaic and Hebrew tongues. It is derived from the root words "pil" and "mon," which together translate to "miracle" or "wondrous work." This name was popular among the ancient Israelites and early Christians, reflecting their belief in the miraculous power of God.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Filmon can be found in the biblical Book of Nehemiah, where it is mentioned as the name of a priest who lived in the 5th century BCE. This suggests that the name was already in use among the Jewish community during the Persian period.
During the early Christian era, the name Filmon gained popularity as a testament to the miracles performed by Jesus Christ and his disciples. Several early Church Fathers and saints bore this name, including Saint Filmon the Martyr, who was martyred in the 3rd century CE during the persecution of Christians under the Roman Emperor Diocletian.
In the medieval period, the name Filmon was particularly common in the Byzantine Empire and the Syriac Christian communities of the Middle East. One notable bearer of this name was Filmon of Antioch, a 6th-century Syriac scholar and theologian who played a significant role in the development of the Syriac literary tradition.
The Renaissance period saw the name Filmon spread to Western Europe, where it was adopted in various forms, such as Philemon and Filemon. One of the most famous individuals with this name was Philemon Holland, an English translator and scholar who lived from 1552 to 1637. He is best known for his translations of classical works, including Pliny's Natural History and Livy's Roman History.
Another notable figure with the name Filmon was Philemon Dickinson, an American Revolutionary War soldier and politician who was born in 1739 and died in 1809. He served as a member of the Continental Congress and played a crucial role in the drafting of the Articles of Confederation.
The name Filmon has also been borne by several artists and intellectuals throughout history, such as the 19th-century Russian painter Filmon Akimov (1850-1915) and the 20th-century American author Philemon Sturges (1900-1982), known for his children's books and poetry.
People
Filmon + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Filmon 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
Filmon: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Filmon?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 17 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Filmon 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 20,162,020 US residents.
Is Filmon a common name?
We classify Filmon as "Very Rare". It ranks above 37.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 17 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Filmon most popular?
The single biggest year for Filmon was 1993, when 7 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Filmon is about 33 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Filmon in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 302 people with the name Filmon, or 0.10 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #29,353 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 Filmon 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 Filmon?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Filmon appears almost entirely male. Of the 299 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 Filmon?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Filmon is Black at 88.1%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (6.3%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (3.0%). 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 Filmon most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Filmon in the 2020 Census, accounting for 88.1% (266 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 Filmon in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Filmon a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Filmon 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 Filmon still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Filmon 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 Filmon 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 Americans are named Filmon?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many Americans are named Filmon at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.