Philis
Feminine form of the masculine name Philip, derived from Greek meaning "lover of horses".
Name Census estimates that about 113 living Americans carry the first name Philis. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Philis today is around 71 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Philis births was 1949 (11 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Philis. 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
- • The typical person named Philis is about 71 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Philis' were born before 1965.
People living today
113
~ 1 in 3,033,224 Americans
Peak year
1949
11 babies that year
Average age
71
years old
1973 SSA rank
#9,380
Tracked since 1917
Popularity
Philis: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Philis from the 1910s through to the 1970s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1940s, with 67 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1940s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Philis 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 Philis 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 Philis
The name Philis originated from the Greek language and culture during ancient times. It is derived from the Greek word "philos," which means "beloved" or "dear friend." The spelling variations include Phyllis, Phillis, and Phillida.
In Greek mythology, Phillis was a young woman from the island of Thrace who fell in love with Demophon, one of the heroes of the Trojan War. According to the legend, Demophon promised to marry her but failed to return after a certain period, leading Phillis to commit suicide out of grief. She was then transformed into an almond tree.
The earliest recorded use of the name Philis can be traced back to ancient Greek literature, where it appeared in works by poets and playwrights. One notable example is the character Phyllis from the pastoral poetry of Virgil, a Roman poet who lived from 70 BC to 19 BC.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Philis or its variants:
1. Phyllis Wheatley (c. 1753-1784), an African-American poet who was the first African-American author to have a book published in the United States.
2. Phyllis Diller (1917-2012), an American actress and stand-up comedian known for her self-deprecating humor and eccentric stage persona.
3. Phyllis Dorothy James (1920-2014), an English crime writer best known for her series of novels featuring the character Adam Dalgliesh.
4. Phyllis McGinley (1905-1978), an American author and poet who won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1961 for her book "Times Three: Selected Verse from Three Decades."
5. Phyllis Rose (born 1942), an American writer and literary critic known for her biographies and works on philosophy and literature.
While the name Philis has Greek origins, it has been embraced across various cultures and time periods, with individuals bearing this name leaving their mark in various fields, including literature, comedy, and poetry.
People
Philis + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Philis 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
Philis: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Philis?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 113 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Philis 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 3,033,224 US residents.
Is Philis a common name?
We classify Philis as "Very Rare". It ranks above 66.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 217 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Philis most popular?
The single biggest year for Philis was 1949, when 11 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Philis is about 71 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Philis a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Philis 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.