Humanverse

Philip vs Phillipp

American parents have registered 345,173 Philips since 1880, against 41 Phillipps. Philip is still ahead, with 568 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Philip against Phillipp, 1880 to 2025 0 2k 4k 6k 8k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Philip Phillipp

Each line is every baby given the name that year, girls and boys added together — the only count that means the same thing for both names. A line breaks where the name fell below five babies in a year — the point at which the SSA stops publishing it — rather than being drawn through a figure nobody published. A single published year in a gap shows as a dot.

Who was ahead

Philip has been the commoner name in every year either was published, 1880 to 2025. The lead has never changed hands.

The closest they came was 1979, when Philip had 3,482 and Phillipp had 7.

Side by side

  Philip Phillipp
Total US births 345,17341
Most in one year 6,2888
Babies in 2025 568under 5
Estimated living today 208,00030
Median age today 5664
Peak year 19531961
Best rank 61st boys3,097th boys
Rank in 2025 527thunranked
First recorded 18801944
Girls / boys 1,137 / 344,0360 / 41

A rank is a position within one sex’s list for one year, so the two rank rows are not subtracted from one another and the winning column is not marked on them. The living figure is a life-table estimate, not a count.

Which name is older

Half of the Phillipps alive today are over 64; half the Philips are over 56. That is 8 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.

Compare something else

Related comparisons

Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Philip and Phillipp.