How popular is the baby name Eliphalet in the United States right now? How popular was it historically? Use the popularity graph and data table below to find out! Plus, see all the blog posts that mention the name Eliphalet.

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Popularity of the baby name Eliphalet


Posts that mention the name Eliphalet

Baby names with PH: Phoenix, Ophelia, Joseph

pheasant

Looking for baby names that feature the appealing letter-pair PH?

I’ve collected hundreds of options for you in this post!

Before we get to the names, though, let’s get one big question out of the way…

Why does PH sound like “F”?

In English, PH is a digraph, which means that it’s a pair of letters that make a single sound. (It’s interesting that the word “digraph” contains a digraph, isn’t it?)

Most of the English words that have PH were derived from Greek — specifically, from Greek words that included the Greek letter phi:

Greek letter phi (uppercase)
Phi (uppercase)

In ancient times, the Greek letter phi made an aspirated p-sound. (The unaspirated p-sound, on the other hand, was made by the Greek letter pi.)

When Greek was transliterated into Latin, the letter phi was written as “ph” to denote this aspiration — that is, to signal that the letter “p” was accompanied by a brief puff of air.

So, what happened?

In the first several centuries A.D., the pronunciation of the Greek letter phi changed. It slowly evolved from an aspirated p-sound into an f-sound.

As a result, the letter-pair “ph” underwent a corresponding (though somewhat illogical) pronunciation change. It, too, came to represent an f-sound — and still does to this day.

Now, on to the names!

Names with PH

Below you’ll find a long list of names that contain the letter-pair PH. Many of these names come directly from the U.S. SSA’s baby name data. Others are ancient names that aren’t used much (if at all) in modern times.

  • Aleph
  • Alpha
  • Alphaeus
  • Alpharetta
  • Alphie
  • Alphonsa
  • Alphonse
  • Alphonsine
  • Alphonso
  • Alphonsus
  • Amphion
  • Amphirho
  • Amphithea
  • Aphaea
  • Aphra
    • Seventeenth-century writer Aphra Behn was one of the first English women to earn her living by writing.
  • Aphrodite
  • Apphia
  • Asaph
  • Caliph
  • Cephas, Cephus
  • Christoph, Christophe
  • Christopher, Kristopher
  • Christophine
  • Cleopha
  • Cléophée
  • Cleophas, Cleophus
  • Cypher
  • Daphna
  • Daphne, Daphnie, Daphney, Daphni, Daphnee
  • Delpha
  • Delphi
  • Delphia
  • Delphin
  • Delphina
  • Delphine
  • Delphinus
  • Demophon
  • Dolph
  • Dolphus
  • Dymphna
  • Elaphia
  • Eliphalet, Eliphelet
  • Eliphas, Eliphaz
  • Elpha
  • Ephesius
  • Ephraim
  • Ephram
  • Ephratah
  • Ephrem
  • Epiphanius
  • Epiphany
  • Eugraphia
  • Eugraphius
  • Euphemia
  • Euphemius
  • Euphoria
  • Euphranor
  • Euphrasia
  • Euphrasie
  • Euphrasius
  • Glaphyra
  • Gryphon
  • Hephaestus
  • Hephzibah
  • Humphrey
  • Ildephonse
  • Iphigenia
  • Iphis
  • Japheth, Japhet, Yaphet
  • Jehoshaphat
  • Jephthah ,Jephtha
  • Josaphat
  • Joseph, Ioseph
  • Josepha
  • Josephina
  • Josephine
  • Josephus
  • Memphis
  • Morpheus
  • Murphy, Murphie, Murphee, Murphey
  • Mustapha, Moustapha
  • Naphtali, Nephtali
  • Nephele
  • Nephi
  • Nephthys
  • Nicéphore
  • Onuphrius
  • Ophelia
  • Ophélie
  • Ophir
  • Ophira
  • Ophrah
  • Orpha
  • Orpheus
  • Orphia
  • Pamphilus
  • Persephone, Persephonie, Persephony
  • Phaedra
  • Phaedrus
  • Phaenna
  • Phanuel
  • Pharaildis
  • Pharamond
  • Pharaoh
  • Pharez
  • Pharrell
  • Phelan
  • Phelim
  • Philbert, Philibert
  • Phileas
  • Philemon
  • Philetus
  • Philia
  • Philinda
  • Philina, Philena
  • Philine, Philene
  • Philip, Phillip, Philipp
  • Philippa, Phillipa
  • Philippe
  • Philo
  • Philomel
  • Philomela
  • Philomena
  • Philon
  • Philopateer, Philopater
  • Philotera
  • Phineas, Phinehas
  • Phoebe, Phebe
  • Phoenicia
  • Phoenix
  • Photina
  • Photine
  • Photius
  • Phronsie
  • Phryne
  • Phylicia
  • Phyllida
  • Phyllis, Phillis
  • Porphyrius
  • Prophet
  • Ralph
  • Ralphie
  • Ralphine
  • Randolph
  • Rapha
  • Raphael
  • Raphaela
  • Raphaëlle
  • Rodolph
  • Rolph
  • Rudolph
  • Saphina
  • Saphira, Sapphira, Saphyra
  • Sapphire
  • Sephira
  • Sephiroth
  • Sephora
  • Seraph
  • Seraphia
  • Seraphim
  • Seraphin
  • Seraphina, Saraphina
  • Seraphine
  • Shiphrah
  • Sophia, Sophya
  • Sophie, Sophi, Sophee
  • Sophilia
  • Sophina
  • Sophonie
  • Sophonisba
  • Sophron
  • Sophronia
  • Sophronius
  • Sophus
  • Stephania
  • Stephanie, Stephany, Stephani
  • Sylphrena
  • Sypha
  • Symphony
  • Télesphore
  • Theophanes
  • Theophania
  • Theophila
  • Theophilia
  • Theophilus
  • Triumph
  • Tryphena
  • Tryphon
  • Tryphosa
  • Xenophon
  • Zelpha
  • Zephan
  • Zephaniah
  • Zephyr
  • Zephyra
  • Zephyria
  • Zéphyrine
  • Zephyrus
  • Zilpha
  • Zilphia

Which of the PH names above to do you like most? Let me know in the comments!

Sources: Phee-phi-pho-phum – The Grammarphobia Blog, SSA

Image: Adapted from Fasan3 by Ragnhild & Neil Crawford under CC BY-SA 2.0.

The descendants of Tristram Coffyn

Medal depicting Tristram Coffin/Coffyn (c.1609-1681)
Tristram Coffin/Coffyn

Earlier this week we talked about the original Tristram Coffyn of Nantucket, who is known to have a massive number of descendants.

He and his wife Dionis* had five children in England, then four more after relocating to the New World. Here are the names of not only all nine of their children, but also their 76 grandchildren:

  1. Peter (b. 1631) and his wife Abigail had 11 kids:
    • Parnel, Eliphalet, Abigail, Peter, Jethro,** Tristram, Robert, Edward, Judith, Parnell, Elizabeth
  2. Tristram (b. 1632) and his wife Judith had 10 kids:
    • Judith, Deborah, Mary, James, John, Lydia, Enoch, Stephen, Peter, Nathaniel
  3. Elizabeth (b. 1634) and her husband Stephen Greenleaf had 10 kids:
    • Stephen, Sarah, Daniel, Elizabeth, John, Samuel, Tristram, Edmund, Judith, Mary
  4. Stephen (b. 1637)
  5. James (b. 1640) and his wife Mary had 14 kids:
    • Experience, James, Mary, Abigail, Nathaniel, John, Dinah, Elizabeth, Deborah, Ebenezer, Joseph, Benjamin, Ruth, Jonathan
  6. Deborah (b. 1642)
  7. Mary (b. 1645) and her husband Nathaniel Starbuck had 10 kids:
    • Mary, Elizabeth, Nathaniel, Jethro, Barnabas, Eunice, Priscilla, Hephzibah, Ann, Paul
  8. John (b. 1647) and his wife Deborah had 11 kids:
    • Lydia, Peter, John, Love, Enoch, Samuel, Hannah, Benjamin, Tristram, Deborah, Elizabeth
  9. Stephen (b. 1652) and his wife Mary had 10 kids:
    • Daniel, Dionis, Peter, Stephen, Judith, Susanna, Anna, Mehitable, Hepzibah, Paul

Which of the above names do you like best? Are there any you don’t like at all?

*Dionis’s name is evidently a truncated form of Dionysia, which derives from Dionysius, which originally referred to a devotee of the Greek god Dionysos. The names Dennis and Denise are also derivatives of Dionysius.

**Nantucket’s Oldest House, also called the Jethro Coffin House, was built in 1686 as a wedding gift for Jethro Coffin.

Sources: Tristram Coffin, Sr. (1608-1681) – WikiTree, My Father’s Shoes – Our Coffin Story

Image: Tristram Coffin Medal