Phebe
A feminine name of Greek origin meaning "radiant" or "shining one".
Name Census estimates that about 1,588 living Americans carry the first name Phebe. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Phebe today is around 34 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Phebe births was 2011 (45 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Phebe. 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
1.6K
~ 1 in 215,840 Americans
Peak year
2011
45 babies that year
Average age
34
years old
2024 SSA rank
#5,730
Tracked since 1880
Popularity
Phebe: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Phebe from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 348 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Phebe remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Phebe 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 Phebe during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Phebes live
The SSA's state-level files cover 9 states and territories. New York, California, Pennsylvania recorded the most babies named Phebe, while Texas, Tennessee, Indiana recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 11 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Phebe
The name Phebe has its origins in ancient Greek, derived from the Greek word "phoibos", meaning "radiant" or "bright". It is a feminine form of the male name Phoebus, which was an epithet of the Greek god Apollo, known as the god of light, truth, and prophecy.
In Greek mythology, Phebe was one of the original Titans, born to Uranus and Gaia. She was the personification of the moon and was associated with lunar deities. The name Phebe also appears in the New Testament of the Bible, referring to a Christian woman who was a deacon in the church at Cenchreae.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Phebe can be found in ancient Greek literature, such as the works of Homer and Hesiod, where it was used to refer to various mythological figures and deities associated with the moon and light.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Phebe. In the 1st century AD, Phebe of Cenchreae was a deacon in the early Christian church, mentioned in the Bible's Epistle to the Romans. Phebe Cary (1824-1871) was an American poet and philanthropist who, along with her sister Alice, wrote popular poems and hymns.
Phebe Ann Coffin Hanaford (1829-1921) was an American author, lecturer, and advocate for women's rights and abolition. Phebe Novakovic (born 1957) is an American businesswoman who has served as the CEO of General Dynamics since 2013.
Phebe Philips Folger (1837-1930) was an American educator and philanthropist who co-founded the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C., which houses one of the world's largest collections of Shakespeare-related materials.
People
Phebe + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Phebe as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with P
Other first names starting with P with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Phebe: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Phebe?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,588 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Phebe 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 215,840 US residents.
Is Phebe a common name?
We classify Phebe as "Rare". It ranks above 92.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,936 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Phebe most popular?
The single biggest year for Phebe was 2011, when 45 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Phebe is about 34 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Phebe a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Phebe in the SSA data are female. 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.
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.