Philena
A feminine name of Greek origin meaning "lover of harmony".
Name Census estimates that about 53 living Americans carry the first name Philena. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Philena today is around 45 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Philena births was 1919 (10 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Philena. 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.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Philena. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
53
~ 1 in 6,467,063 Americans
Peak year
1919
10 babies that year
Average age
45
years old
2004 SSA rank
#18,126
Tracked since 1884
Census
Philena in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 148 people with the first name Philena, which placed it at #45,698 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
#45,698
National first-name rank
People counted
148
148 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
48.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Philena
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Philena is White at 48.6%. The next largest groups are Black (18.9%) and American Indian/Alaska Native (9.5%). 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 Philena 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 Philena at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White48.6% · 72
- Black or African American18.9% · 28
- American Indian and Alaska Native9.5% · 14
- Asian and Pacific Islander8.8% · 13
- Two or more races8.1% · 12
- Hispanic or Latino6.1% · 9
Popularity
Philena: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Philena from the 1880s through to the 2000s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 36 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1920s peak, Philena remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Philena 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 Philena during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Philena
The given name Philena is a feminine name derived from the Greek language. It is believed to have originated during the Classical period of ancient Greece, around the 5th century BC. The name is a combination of the Greek words "philos" meaning "beloved" and "philein" meaning "to love."
In ancient Greek mythology, Philena was the name of one of the Oceanids, the three thousand daughters of the Titans Oceanus and Tethys. The Oceanids were sea nymphs who presided over the fresh water sources of the world. This mythological connection suggests that the name Philena may have been associated with themes of water, fertility, and nature.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Philena can be found in the works of the ancient Greek dramatist Euripides, who lived from around 480 BC to 406 BC. In his play "The Phoenician Women," one of the characters bears the name Philena.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who carried the name Philena. One of the earliest recorded examples is Philena, a Greek poetess from the island of Lesbos who lived around the 3rd century BC. She was known for her lyric poetry and was considered a contemporary of the renowned poet Sappho.
Another historical figure with the name Philena was a Christian martyr from the 3rd century AD. According to accounts, she was a virgin from the city of Amastris in Paphlagonia (modern-day Turkey) who was tortured and executed for her faith during the persecutions of the Roman Emperor Diocletian.
In the 16th century, there was a Philena Deane (1565-1624), an English noblewoman and courtier who served as a gentlewoman of the Privy Chamber to Queen Elizabeth I. She was known for her intelligence and wit, and was admired by many scholars and poets of her time.
During the 18th century, Philena Foord (1731-1801) was a notable English poet and writer. She was a member of the Bluestocking Circle, a group of influential women who promoted the education and intellectual pursuits of women in the 18th century.
In the field of music, Philena Antoinette Marie Angelica Thibault (1774-1858) was a French operatic soprano who performed in several operas across Europe during the late 18th and early 19th centuries. She was known for her powerful voice and dramatic performances.
People
Philena + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Philena 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
Philena: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Philena?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 53 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Philena 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 6,467,063 US residents.
Is Philena a common name?
We classify Philena as "Very Rare". It ranks above 55.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 143 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Philena most popular?
The single biggest year for Philena was 1919, when 10 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Philena 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 Philena in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 148 people with the name Philena, or 0.05 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #45,698 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 Philena 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 Philena?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Philena appears almost entirely female. Of the 149 people counted with this name, 100.0% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Philena?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Philena is White at 48.6%. The next largest groups are Black (18.9%) and American Indian/Alaska Native (9.5%). 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 Philena most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Philena in the 2020 Census, accounting for 48.6% (72 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 Philena in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Philena a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Philena 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.
Is Philena still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Philena 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 Philena 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 named Philena?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many people share the name Philena at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.