Philippa
A feminine name of Greek origin meaning "lover of horses".
Name Census estimates that about 1,481 living Americans carry the first name Philippa. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Philippa today is around 23 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Philippa births was 2022 (75 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Philippa. 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 Philippa with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
1.5K
~ 1 in 231,434 Americans
Peak year
2022
75 babies that year
Average age
23
years old
2024 SSA rank
#2,641
Tracked since 1910
Census
Philippa in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,816 people with the first name Philippa, which placed it at #8,091 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
#8,091
National first-name rank
People counted
1.8K
1,816 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.6
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
75.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Philippa
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Philippa is White at 75.9%. The next largest groups are Black (10.5%) and Two or More Races (7.4%). 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 Philippa 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 Philippa at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White75.9% · 1,379
- Black or African American10.5% · 190
- Two or more races7.4% · 134
- Hispanic or Latino4.3% · 78
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.8% · 32
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.2% · 3
Popularity
Philippa: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Philippa from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 562 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Philippa remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Philippa 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 Philippa during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Philippas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 10 states and territories. New York, California, Virginia recorded the most babies named Philippa, while Washington, Pennsylvania, New Jersey recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 30 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Philippa
The name Philippa has its roots in ancient Greek, derived from the masculine name Philippos, which means "lover of horses." It is a compound of the Greek words philos, meaning "lover" or "friend," and hippos, meaning "horse." The name gained popularity during the Hellenistic period and was later adopted by the Romans.
The earliest known bearer of the name Philippa was Philippa of Geldria, who lived in the 13th century. She was a Dutch noblewoman and the wife of King Edward III of England. Their marriage in 1328 helped establish the name's prominence in England and other parts of Europe.
Another notable figure in history was Philippa of Hainault, who lived from 1314 to 1369. She was the Queen of England as the wife of King Edward III and played a significant role in the Hundred Years' War between England and France.
In the 14th century, Philippa de Coucy, a French noblewoman, was celebrated for her beauty and intelligence. She lived from around 1355 to 1411 and was known for her influential literary works and patronage of the arts.
Philippa Chaucer, born around 1336, was the daughter of the renowned English poet Geoffrey Chaucer. She was a significant figure in her own right, serving as a lady-in-waiting to several English queens and holding influential positions at the royal court.
Philippa of Lancaster, born in 1359, was a member of the English royal family and played a crucial role in the Hundred Years' War. She was the Queen of Portugal through her marriage to King John I and helped strengthen the alliance between England and Portugal.
Throughout history, the name Philippa has been associated with nobility, intelligence, and literary accomplishments. While its origins are ancient Greek, it has been embraced by various cultures and continues to be a popular choice for parents in many parts of the world.
People
Philippa + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Philippa 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
Philippa: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Philippa?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,481 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Philippa 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 231,434 US residents.
Is Philippa a common name?
We classify Philippa as "Rare". It ranks above 92.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,753 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Philippa most popular?
The single biggest year for Philippa was 2022, when 75 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Philippa is about 23 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Philippa in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,816 people with the name Philippa, or 0.60 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #8,091 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 Philippa 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 Philippa?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Philippa appears almost entirely female. Of the 1,815 people counted with this name, 99.4% 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 Philippa?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Philippa is White at 75.9%. The next largest groups are Black (10.5%) and Two or More Races (7.4%). 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 Philippa most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Philippa in the 2020 Census, accounting for 75.9% (1,379 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 Philippa in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Philippa a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Philippa 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 Philippa still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Philippa 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 Philippa 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 Philippa?
See how many Americans are named Philippa on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.