Gender Masculine
Meaning & History
From the Greek name [1] [2] [3] [4] , composed of the elements philos) meaning "friend, lover" and hippos) meaning "horse" [5] [6] . This was the name of five kings of Macedon, including Philip II the father of Alexander the Great. The name appears in the New Testament belonging to two people who are regarded as saints. First, one of the twelve apostles, and second, an early figure in the Christian church known as Philip the Deacon.This name was initially more common among Eastern Christians, though it came to the West by the Middle Ages. It was borne by six kings of France and five kings of Spain. It was regularly used in England during the Middle Ages, although the Spanish king Philip II, who attempted an invasion of England, helped make it less common by the 17th century. It was revived in the English-speaking world in the 19th century. Famous bearers include the Elizabethan courtier and poet Philip Sidney (1554-1586) and the American science fiction novelist Philip K. Dick (1928-1982).
Related Names
Feminine FormsPhilipa, Phillipa, Pip, Pippa (English) Philippa (English (British)) Filippa (Swedish) Filippa (Norwegian) Filippa (Danish)
Other Languages & CulturesPhilippos, Philippus (Ancient Greek) Philippos (Biblical Greek) Philippus (Biblical Latin) Filip (Bulgarian) Felip (Catalan) Filippu (Corsican) Filip (Croatian) Filip (Czech) Filip, Vilppu (Finnish) Philippe (French) Philipp (German) Filippos (Greek) Fülöp (Hungarian) Pilib (Irish) Filippo, Pippo (Italian) Filips (Latvian) Pilypas (Lithuanian) Filip (Macedonian) Piripi (Māori) Filip (Polish) Filipe (Portuguese) Felipe, Felipinho (Portuguese (Brazilian)) Filip (Romanian) Filipp (Russian) Filib (Scottish Gaelic) Filip (Serbian) Filip (Slovak) Filip (Slovene) Felipe (Spanish) Pylyp (Ukrainian)
Popularity
People think this name is
classic mature formal upper class natural wholesome strong refined simple serious
Name Days
Denmark: May 1
Images
Bust of Philip II of MacedonBust of Philip II of Macedon
Sources & References
- Lexicon of Greek Personal Names, available from https://search.lgpn.ox.ac.uk/browse.html?facet-nymRef=Φίλιππος.
- Strong, James. The Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, entry g5376, available from https://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?strongs=g5376.
- Withycombe, Elizabeth Gidley. The Oxford Dictionary of English Christian Names. Oxford, 1945, page 108.
- Hanks, Patrick and Flavia Hodges. A Dictionary of First Names. Oxford, 1990, page 266.
- Liddell, Scott and Jones. An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, entry fi/los, available from https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0058%3Aentry%3Dfi%2Flos.
- Liddell, Scott and Jones. An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, entry i(/ppos, available from https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0058%3Aentry%3Di%28%2Fppos.
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Entry updated May 26, 2026