Phi
A feminine name of Greek origin representing the Greek letter phi.
Name Census estimates that about 503 living Americans carry the first name Phi. It is a predominantly male name (91.3% of registrations). The average person named Phi today is around 33 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Phi births was 1992 (26 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Phi. 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 Phi with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
503
~ 1 in 681,420 Americans
Peak year
1992
26 babies that year
Average age
33
years old
2015 SSA rank
#7,898
Tracked since 1976
Census
Phi in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 2,696 people with the first name Phi, which placed it at #6,063 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
#6,063
National first-name rank
People counted
2.7K
2,696 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.9
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
95.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Phi
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Phi is Asian/Pacific Islander at 95.6%. The next largest groups are White (2.5%) and Two or More Races (1.0%). 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 Phi 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 Phi at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander95.6% · 2,577
- White2.5% · 68
- Two or more races1.0% · 27
- Black or African American0.5% · 14
- Hispanic or Latino0.4% · 10
Gender
Gender distribution for Phi
Phi leans heavily male at 91.3% of total registrations, but 45 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Phi as a male name
- Ranked #7,898 in 2015
- 10 male births in 2015
- Peak: 1992 (26 births)
Phi as a female name
- Ranked #19,507 in 2009
- 5 female births in 2009
- Peak: 1996 (8 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Phi on both sides of the split. Of the 2,708 people counted with this name, 1,914 were male (70.7%) and 794 were female (29.3%).
Popularity
Phi: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Phi from the 1970s through to the 2010s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 190 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1980s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Phi 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 Phi during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Phis live
Origin
Meaning and history of Phi
The name Phi originates from the Greek language and is closely associated with the ancient Greek letter phi (Φ or φ). This letter was introduced into the Greek alphabet around the 8th century BCE and has a symbolic meaning related to the concept of the "golden ratio" or "divine proportion" in mathematics and art.
In ancient Greek, the word "phi" (φι) was used as a representation of the sound "ph" or "f." However, the name Phi itself is not directly derived from a specific Greek word but rather from the letter's symbolic significance and its use in various contexts throughout history.
One of the earliest historical references to the name Phi can be found in the works of the ancient Greek mathematician, Pythagoras, who lived around 570-495 BCE. Pythagoras and his followers were fascinated by the mathematical properties of the golden ratio, which they represented by the symbol φ (phi). This ratio was considered a fundamental principle of aesthetics and harmony in art, architecture, and nature.
In the realm of philosophy, Phi was used as a symbolic representation of the concept of the "world soul" or the divine essence that permeated the universe, according to the teachings of Plato and other ancient Greek thinkers. This association with philosophical and metaphysical concepts added a deeper layer of meaning to the name.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Phi was Phi of Croton, a renowned Greek athlete and Olympic champion who lived in the 6th century BCE. He was known for his exceptional physical prowess and was celebrated in ancient Greek literature for his athletic achievements.
Another notable figure was Phi of Thasos, a Greek mathematician and astronomer who lived in the 5th century BCE. He is credited with various contributions to the fields of mathematics and astronomy, including the development of methods for calculating the positions of celestial bodies.
In the realm of literature, the name Phi appears in the works of ancient Greek poets and playwrights. For instance, the character of Phi is mentioned in the plays of Aristophanes, the famous Athenian comic playwright who lived around 446-386 BCE.
During the Renaissance period, the name Phi gained further prominence due to the revival of interest in classical Greek culture and the study of the golden ratio in art and architecture. One of the most famous individuals with this name was Phi of Urbino, an Italian Renaissance architect and mathematician who lived from 1470 to 1520. He was renowned for his contributions to the design of various architectural masterpieces, including the Palazzo Ducale in Urbino.
In the field of science, Phi has been associated with several prominent figures, such as Phi Geminus, a Greek astronomer and mathematician who lived in the 1st century BCE. He is known for his work on astronomy and for compiling a comprehensive treatise on the classification of mathematics.
These are just a few examples of individuals who have borne the name Phi throughout history, highlighting its rich cultural and intellectual significance across various disciplines and time periods.
People
Phi + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Phi 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
Phi: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Phi?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 503 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Phi 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 681,420 US residents.
Is Phi a common name?
We classify Phi as "Very Rare". It ranks above 84.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 519 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Phi most popular?
The single biggest year for Phi was 1992, when 26 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Phi 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 Phi in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 2,696 people with the name Phi, or 0.89 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #6,063 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 Phi 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 Phi?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Phi on both sides of the split. Of the 2,708 people counted with this name, 1,914 were male (70.7%) and 794 were female (29.3%). 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 Phi?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Phi is Asian/Pacific Islander at 95.6%. The next largest groups are White (2.5%) and Two or More Races (1.0%). 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 Phi most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Phi in the 2020 Census, accounting for 95.6% (2,577 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 Phi in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Phi a male name?
Yes, 91.3% of people registered as Phi 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 Phi still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Phi 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 Phi 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 Phi?
You can see how many Americans are named Phi on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.