Phyllis vs Phylliss
American parents have registered 323,367 Phyllises since 1880, against 597 Phyllisses. Phyllis is still ahead, with 7 babies in 2025.
Babies given each name, 1880–2025
Phyllis Phylliss
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
Phyllis 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 1970, when Phyllis had 767 and Phylliss had 6.
Side by side
| Phyllis | Phylliss | |
|---|---|---|
| Total US births | 323,367 | 597 |
| Most in one year | 9,205 | 25 |
| Babies in 2025 | 7 | under 5 |
| Estimated living today | 139,000 | 320 |
| Median age today | 75 | 73 |
| Peak year | 1947 | 1950 |
| Best rank | 37th girls | 1,911th girls |
| Rank in 2025 | 11,932nd | unranked |
| First recorded | 1880 | 1917 |
| Girls / boys | 322,496 / 871 | 597 / 0 |
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 Phyllises alive today are over 75; half the Phyllisses are over 73. That is 2 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: Phyllis and Phylliss.