Philemon vs Phillis
American parents have registered 3,683 Phillises since 1880, against 925 Philemons. But in 2025 it was Philemon that was commoner, 10 babies to fewer than five.
Babies given each name, 1880–2025
Philemon Phillis
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
Of the 132 years in which either name was published, Phillis for 86 years and Philemon for 46 years. The lead changed hands 5 times.
Side by side
| Philemon | Phillis | |
|---|---|---|
| Total US births | 925 | 3,683 |
| Most in one year | 24 | 118 |
| Babies in 2025 | 10 | under 5 |
| Estimated living today | 720 | 2,000 |
| Median age today | 30 | 69 |
| Peak year | 2017 | 1949 |
| Best rank | 4,224th boys | 800th girls |
| Rank in 2025 | 7,679th | unranked |
| First recorded | 1916 | 1882 |
| Girls / boys | 0 / 925 | 3,677 / 6 |
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 Phillises alive today are over 69; half the Philemons are over 30. That is 39 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: Philemon and Phillis.