How popular is the baby name Philia 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 Philia.
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Alberta, one of Canada’s three prairie provinces, shares a border with British Columbia, Northwest Territories, Saskatchewan, and the U.S. state of Montana.
Last year, Alberta welcomed 48,225 babies — over 24,000 boys and over 23,000 girls.
What were the most popular names among these babies? Olivia and Noah.
Here are Alberta’s top 50+ girl names and top 50 boy names of 2022:
Girl Names
Olivia, 192 baby girls
Sophia, 151
Emma, 149
Amelia, 133
Harper, 125
Charlotte, 117
Ava, 115
Isla, 101
Lily, 100
Chloe, 92
Emily, 91 (tie)
Isabella, 91 (tie)
Abigail, 90
Nora, 88
Violet, 86
Aria, 85
Ivy, 83
Mia, 82
Hazel, 81 (tie)
Zoey, 81 (tie)
Ellie, 80 (3-way tie)
Evelyn, 80 (3-way tie)
Sophie, 80 (3-way tie)
Ella, 79 (tie)
Hannah, 79 (tie)
Aurora, 75
Willow, 74
Eleanor, 73
Scarlett, 72
Elizabeth, 71 (tie)
Mila, 71 (tie)
Avery, 69
Grace, 68
Luna, 64
Everly, 63
Claire, 61 (tie)
Maya, 61 (tie)
Hailey, 60 (tie)
Wren, 60 (tie)
Alice, 58 (3-way tie)
Isabelle, 58 (3-way tie)
Madison, 58 (3-way tie)
Emilia, 57 (3-way tie)
Freya, 57 (3-way tie)
Natalie, 57 (3-way tie)
Ayla, 56
Penelope, 53 (tie)
Sadie, 53 (tie)
Eliana, 51 (3-way tie)
Nova, 51 (3-way tie)
Quinn, 51 (3-way tie)
Boy Names
Noah, 229 baby boys
Liam, 176
Theodore, 173
Oliver, 172
Jack, 159
William, 146
Benjamin, 138 (tie)
James, 138 (tie)
Henry, 136
Lucas, 135
Ethan, 130
Jackson, 121
Leo, 114
Levi, 113
Logan, 109 (tie)
Wyatt, 109 (tie)
Muhammad, 106
Owen, 100
Adam, 97
Luke, 96
Bennett, 94 (tie)
Maverick, 94 (tie)
Asher, 93
Alexander, 92 (tie)
Nathan, 92 (tie)
Caleb, 91 (3-way tie)
Daniel, 91 (3-way tie)
Elijah, 91 (3-way tie)
Thomas, 90
Carter, 85 (tie)
Theo, 85 (tie)
Gabriel, 82
Jacob, 80
Lincoln, 79
Aiden, 76 (tie)
Hudson, 76 (tie)
Grayson, 75 (tie)
Walker, 75 (tie)
Emmett, 73 (tie)
Isaac, 73 (tie)
Cooper, 70 (3-way tie)
Luca, 70 (3-way tie)
Samuel, 70 (3-way tie)
Jasper, 69 (tie)
Mason, 69 (tie)
Arthur, 67 (3-way tie)
David, 67 (3-way tie)
Wesley, 67 (3-way tie)
Nolan, 66 (tie)
Parker, 66 (tie)
Nearly 13,000 names were registered in Alberta in 2022, and well over 8,000 of these names were given to a single baby. Here’s a selection of the baby names bestowed just once in the province last year:
Some possible explanations and/or influences for a few of the above:
Acâhkosak means “stars” in Cree.
Audacieux means “audacious, bold” in French.
Etoile-Soleilmeans “star-sun” in French.
Gavroche is a young character from the Victor Hugo novel Les Misérables (1862).
Humanitas is a Latin word meaning “human nature” and “humaneness” (among other things).
Izcalli, the last month of the Aztec calendar, means “stone house” in Nahuatl.
Kikotawân is based on the Cree word kotawân, meaning “campfire.”
Mîhkokwan means “red feather” in Cree.
Mihkwaskâw means “red sky” or “red clouds at sunset” in Cree.
Mikwan means “feather” in Cree.
Nîpin means “summer” in Cree.
Okihcihtâw means “warrior” in Cree.
Okîsikow means “angel” in Cree.
Piyesiwak means “thunder” in Cree.
Pridhi is based on a Sanskrit word meaning “circumference” and “halo” (among other things).
Quezon is both a province and a city in the Philippines.
Sîsîkwan means “rattle” in Cree.
Trudeau is the surname of Justin Trudeau, Canada’s current prime minister
Notably, it looks as though Alberta’s long, alphabetized list of boy names registered in 2022 (pdf) is incomplete; it stops at the name Zaidan. On Alberta’s 2021 list of boy names (pdf), Zaidan was followed by nearly 150 other names, including Zane, Zayn, and Zion. I’m not sure what accounts for the truncation, but I’ve tweeted Alberta about it.
Finally, here’s a link to Alberta’s 2021 rankings, if you’d like to compare last year to the year before.
Last year, the country of Switzerland welcomed 89,644 babies.
What were the most popular names among these babies? Mia and Noah.
Here are Switzerland’s top 50 girl names and top 50 boy names of 2021:
Girl Names
Mia, 467 baby girls
Emma, 416
Elena, 322
Lina, 315
Mila, 307
Emilia, 303
Sofia, 298
Olivia, 279
Nora, 270
Alina, 260
Anna, 259
Lea, 256
Lia, 255
Lara, 251
Lena, 243
Julia, 241
Ella, 240
Elin, 238
Laura, 233
Malea, 231
Nina, 225
Leonie, 220
Giulia, 213
Sophia, 211
Chiara, 208
Alice, 203
Elina, 197 (tie)
Valentina, 197 (tie)
Luna, 195
Luana, 193
Livia, 191
Sara, 187 (tie)
Sophie, 187 (tie)
Yara, 176
Eva, 174
Emily, 171
Aurora, 170
Amelia, 167
Ava, 160 (3-way tie)
Juna, 160 (3-way tie)
Zoé, 160 (3-way tie)
Elisa, 155
Alea, 147
Melina, 146 (tie)
Victoria, 146 (tie)
Jana, 144
Hana, 141
Maria, 140
Mara, 137
Charlotte, 136
Boy Names
Noah, 559 baby boys
Liam, 391
Matteo, 385
Luca, 368
Gabriel, 327
Leon, 315
Elias, 303
Louis, 272
Lio, 270
Nino, 258
Leo, 256
Leonardo, 248
Samuel, 243
Leano, 229
Ben, 227
David, 226
Julian, 218
Diego, 206
Aaron, 204 (tie)
Elia, 204 (tie)
Lian, 201
Levi, 199
Finn, 197
Nico, 192
Robin, 185
Elio, 183 (tie)
Mateo, 183 (tie)
Malik, 179
Levin, 178
Arthur, 177
Tim, 176
Luan, 175
Alessio, 170 (tie)
Jonas, 170 (tie)
Nael, 169
Adam, 168
Lenny, 162
Dario, 159
Benjamin, 157 (tie)
Milo, 157 (tie)
Laurin, 156
Leandro, 154
Emil, 153
Lucas, 152
Noé, 148
Luis, 147
Alexander, 146
Mattia, 144 (tie)
Nathan, 144 (tie)
Gian, 143 (tie)
Jan, 143 (tie)
Home to more than 8.5 million people, Switzerland has four national languages: German, French, Italian, and Romansh. Here are the top baby names among the speakers of each of these languages:
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:
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, back to the names!
Top baby names with PH
Let’s begin with the most popular names with PH (including a few names that start with PH):
Top girl names with PH
Top boy names with PH
Sophia Josephine Sophie Phoebe Daphne Phoenix Ophelia Stephanie Murphy Persephone
Joseph Christopher Phoenix Memphis Philip Phillip Raphael Kristopher Ephraim Murphy
Now here are the same names again, but this time around I’ve added some details (including definitions and rankings).
Christopher + Kristopher
The name Christopher was derived from a pair of ancient Greek words: christos, meaning “Christ” or “anointed one,” and phoros, meaning “bearing” — hence, “Christ-bearing.”
Kristopher is a slightly simplified form of Christopher (perhaps influenced by the Scandinavian spelling, Kristoffer).
Christopher is currently the 52nd most popular boy name in the nation, and Kristopher ranks 936th.
Other forms of the name include Christoph (German) and Christophe (French).
Daphne
The name Daphne was derived from the ancient Greek word daphne, meaning “laurel.”
In Greek myth, Daphne was a naiad who was saved from the advances of the god Apollo by being transformed into a laurel tree.
Daphne is currently the 288th most popular girl name in the U.S.
One variant form of the name is Daphna. The name is also sometimes spelled Daphnie, Daphney, or Daphni.
Ephraim
The name Ephraim is the Biblical Greek form of a Hebrew name meaning “fruitful.” It’s pronounced a variety of ways: EHF-rum, EEF-rum, EHF-fray-um, etc.
Ephraim is currently the 978th most popular boy name in the nation.
The name is also sometimes spelled Ephram or Ephrem.
Joseph + Josephine
The name Joseph is based on Ioseph, the Biblical Greek form of a Hebrew name meaning “he adds.”
Josephine comes from Joséphine, the French feminine form of Joseph.
Joseph is currently the 28th most popular boy name in the U.S., whereas Josephine ranks 72nd for girls.
The Dutch form of Joseph is Josephus. Other feminine forms include Josepha (German) and Josephina.
Memphis
Memphis was the Greek form of the ancient Egyptian city-name Men-nefer, which meant “his beauty.” (The nefer element is also evident in the Egyptian name Nefertiti.)
The Egyptian city is long gone, but a city in Tennessee was named Memphis in the 1820s.
Memphis is currently the 404th most popular boy name in the nation.
Murphy
The Irish surname Murphy was derived from a medieval Irish given name comprised of the elements muir, meaning “sea,” and cath, meaning “battle.”
Murphy is currently the 716th most popular girl name in the U.S. (It’s also sitting just outside the top 1,000 for boys.)
The name is also sometimes spelled Murphie, Murphee, or Murphey.
Ophelia
The name Ophelia was derived from the ancient Greek word opheleia, meaning “aid, help, succor.”
It’s not a name found in Greek myth, but William Shakespeare used it for a character in his play Hamlet around the year 1600. And, much more recently, the Lumineers featured the name in their 2016 song “Ophelia.”
Ophelia is currently the 321st most popular girl name in the nation.
The French form of the name is Ophélie.
Persephone
The etymology of the Greek name Persephone (pronounced per-SEH-fuh-nee) isn’t known for certain, but one modern theory suggests that it means “she who threshes ears of corn.”
In Greek myth, Persephone was the daughter of Demeter (the goddess of agriculture) and Zeus.
Persephone is currently the 778th most popular girl name in the U.S. (It entered the top 1,000 for the first time in 2019.)
The name is also sometimes spelled Persephonie or Persephony.
Philip + Phillip
The name Philip was derived from a pair of ancient Greek words: philos, meaning “beloved, loving,” and hippos, meaning “horse” — hence, “lover of horses.”
Phillip-with-two-L’s is a common variant of Philip.
Philip is currently the 451th most popular boy name in the nation, and Phillip (two L’s) ranks 523rd.
Other forms of the name include Philipp (German) and Philippe (French). Feminine forms include Philippa and Phillipa.
Phoebe
The name Phoebe was derived from the ancient Greek word phoibos, meaning “pure, bright, radiant.”
Many characters in Greek myth had this name, including a Titaness who was the daughter of Uranus and Gaia. This particular Phoebe was the grandmother of the sun god Apollo and the moon goddess Artemis.
Phoebe is currently the 247th most popular girl name in the U.S.
The spelling Phebe (used in certain translations of the Bible) was more prevalent in previous generations. Among the babies born in the city of Providence in 1868, for instance, we find four girls named Phebe, but none named Phoebe.
Phoenix
The name Phoenix was derived from the ancient Greek word phoinix, meaning “crimson” or “purple.”
In Greek and Egyptian myth, the phoenix was a bird that periodically self-immolated and then rose again from its own ashes.
In fact, the capital of Arizona was named “Phoenix” because early settlers, in the 1860s, noticed archaeological evidence of the previous Native American inhabitants and recognized that “the new town would spring from the ruins of a former civilization.”
Phoenix, a relatively gender-neutral name, currently ranks 248th for boys and 308th for girls.
Raphael
Raphael — the name of a Biblical archangel, Renaissance painter, and a Ninja Turtle — is based on a Hebrew name meaning “God heals.”
Raphael is currently the 538th most popular boy name in the nation.
Feminine forms of the name include Raphaela (German) and Raphaëlle (French).
Sophia + Sophie
The name Sophia was derived from the ancient Greek word sophos, meaning “wisdom,” “sound judgment,” “skilled.”
Finally, here are some very rare names with PH — some of which haven’t seen any usage in the U.S. in recent years, others of which never appeared in the U.S. data at all.
Image: Adapted from Fasan3 by Ragnhild & Neil Crawford under CC BY-SA 2.0.
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