How popular is the baby name Philipp 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 Philipp.

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Popularity of the baby name Philipp


Posts that mention the name Philipp

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.

Name-spotting: Melancthon

Sign inside Garden of the Gods park
Sign inside Garden of the Gods

We visited the Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs recently. Inside the park, we spotted a “What’s In a Name?” sign that described how the park got its name back in the late 1850s:

As they looked over this area of cathedral-like rock spires, one man, Malancthon Beach, commented that the spot would be a great place for a beer garden someday. His friend, a poetic young man named Rufous Cable, replied that it was a place “fit for the Gods.”

It’s a cool story. To me, though, the first name “Malancthon” is way more interesting than the origin of the park name. :) Where did it come from?

Well, first, a couple of spelling corrections — Beach’s name was Melancthon, and Cable’s name was Rufus. They were two of the founders of Colorado City (which was later absorbed into Colorado Springs).

My best guess is that “Melancthon” is a tribute to 16th-century German theologian Philipp Melanchthon, one of the leaders of the Protestant Reformation. His surname at birth was Schwartzerd (“black earth” in German), but as a young man he Latinized his name to the classical equivalent Melanchthon (“black earth” in Greek).

CCC Company 1848, Camp SP-13-C, Morrison, Colorado

We also saw some names at Red Rocks, which is both a park and a famous amphitheater.

The amphitheater was constructed from 1936 to 1941 by men in the Civilian Conservation Corps, a work relief program that existed during the Great Depression. One display included a photo of 124 of the men in the local CCC. Here are their first names, sorted by frequency:

  • 5: Joe, Raymond
  • 4: Charles
  • 3: Arthur, Clarence, Edward
  • 2: Bill, Byron, Carl, David, Earnest, Edwin, Everett, Jack, James, Leo, Maurice, William
  • 1: Aaron, Albert, Aldine, Alfonso, Allen, Alva, Amos, Ancelmo, Arleigh, Aubrey, Audrey, Barnett, Blaine, Calvin, Celestino, Charley, Claud, Claude, Clayton, Cleston, Dale, Damas, Dan, Darold, Dick, Don, Donald, Ed, Elden, Elias, Elipio, Emerson, Emilio, Eric, Ernest, Eston, Fares, Frank, Fred, Glenn, Grant, Gust, Guy, Horace, Hubert, Irvin, Jake, Jasper, Jesse, Jim, John, Jose, Kenneth, Lawrence, Leland, Leonard, Lester, Louis, Lyman, Manual, Marvin, Max, Merce, Noah, Norman, Orval, Pasqual, Paul, Pete, Richard, Rowland, Rudolfo, Russel, Russell, Sandeford, Trenton, Willard

…What interesting names have you spotted while out and about recently?

Source: Melancthon Sayre Beach – Find a Grave

[Latest update: Jan. 2025]

Popular baby names in Poland, 2013

Flag of Poland
Flag of Poland

Poland’s top baby names of 2013 were announced a couple of weeks ago.

According to provisional data from the country’s Ministry of the Interior, the most popular baby names last year were Lena and Jakub.

Here are Poland’s projected top 20 girl names and top 20 boy names of 2013:

Girl Names

1. Lena
2. Julia
3. Zuzanna
4. Maja
5. Zofia
6. Amelia
7. Hanna
8. Aleksandra
9. Wiktoria
10. Natalia
11. Oliwia
12. Alicja
13. Nikola
14. Maria
15. Emilia
16. Anna
17. Nadia
18. Gabriela
19. Martyna
20. Antonina

Boy Names

1. Jakub
2. Kacper
3. Filip
4. Szymon
5. Jan
6. Antoni
7. Michal
8. Wojciech
9. Mateusz
10. Bartosz
11. Adam
12. Franciszek
13. Piotr
14. Aleksander
15. Mikolaj
16. Wiktor
17. Igor
18. Marcel
19. Dawid
20. Alan

Baby names that increased in popularity last year include Antonina, Iga, Liliana, Maksymilian, Stanislaw and Zofia.

The rare baby names mentioned in the news release were Jessika, Leah, Nathalie, Raisa, Vivian, Collin, Jack, Philipp, Yasin, Elif, Emi, Kenza, Zoya, Mieczyslaw, Siemowit, Witalij and Wadim.

Source: Lena i Jakub – to najpopularniejsze imiona mijajacego roku

Image: Adapted from Flag of Poland (public domain)

The 20 children of Johann Sebastian Bach

German composer Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750).
Johann Sebastian Bach

German composer Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) had a total of 20 children.

He had seven with his first wife, Maria Barbara Bach (who was his 2nd cousin). Four of these children survived to adulthood.

  1. Catharina Dorothea (1708-1774)
  2. Wilhelm Friedemann (1710-1784)
  3. Maria Sophia [twin] (1713)
  4. Johann Christoph [twin] (1713)
  5. Carl Philipp Emanuel (1714-1788)
  6. Johann Gottfried Bernhard (1715-1739)
  7. Leopold Augustus (1718-1719)

The other 13 he had with his second wife, Anna Magdalena Wilcke. Six survived to adulthood.

  1. Christiana Sophia Henrietta (1723-1726)
  2. Gottfried Heinrich (1724-1763)
  3. Christian Gottlieb (1725-1728)
  4. Elisabeth Juliana Friderica (1726-1781)
  5. Ernestus Andreas (1727)
  6. Regina Johanna (1728-1733)
  7. Christiana Benedicta Louisa (1730)
  8. Christiana Dorothea (1731-1732)
  9. Johann Christoph Friedrich (1732-1795)
  10. Johann August Abraham (1733)
  11. Johann Christian (1735-1782)
  12. Johanna Carolina (1737-1781)
  13. Regina Susanna (1742-1800)

Do you like any of these names? If so, which ones?

Sources:

  • David, Hans T., Arthur Mendel and Christoph Wolff. The New Bach Reader: A Life of Johann Sebastian Bach in Letters and Documents. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1998.
  • Schulenberg, David. Bach. New York: Oxford University Press, 2020.