Phaedra
Phaedra was given to 15 girls in 2025, #7,407 among girls’ names; 1,902 Americans have been recorded with it since 1963 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 1,820 Americans named Phaedra and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (96% of everyone recorded); the median is 42 years old and half are between 18 and 54.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Phaedra by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Phaedra mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Phaedra is “a female given name from Ancient Greek.”
From Latin Phaedra, from Ancient Greek Φαίδρᾱ (Phaídrā). The myth has been retold several times, in plays (in classical times in Euripides’s Hippolytus and Seneca the Younger’s Phaedra, later in Racine’s Phèdre), and more recently in other media.
/ˈfiːdɹə/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Phaedra?
#7,407 among girls’ names, 2025
Phaedra fell from #4,208 in 2015 to #7,407 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born fell from 19.6 to 9.3 per million.
96 babies in 1971, the peak
Phaedra peaked in 1971, when 96 girls were given it, #1,193 among girls’ names. The 15 births of 2025 are 16% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 15 | #7,407 | 9.3 |
| 2024 | 20 | #6,103 | 12.3 |
| 2023 | 26 | #5,089 | 16.2 |
| 2022 | 23 | #5,588 | 14.0 |
| 2021 | 22 | #5,695 | 13.4 |
| 2020 | 22 | #5,612 | 13.6 |
| 2019 | 18 | #6,636 | 10.7 |
| 2018 | 15 | #7,669 | 8.8 |
| 2017 | 27 | #5,020 | 15.6 |
| 2016 | 31 | #4,606 | 17.5 |
Every recorded year (63)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 35 | #4,208 | 19.6 |
| 2014 | 39 | #3,903 | 21.8 |
| 2013 | 34 | #4,313 | 19.4 |
| 2012 | 37 | #4,098 | 21.0 |
| 2011 | 24 | #5,684 | 13.6 |
| 2010 | 29 | #4,942 | 16.3 |
| 2009 | 27 | #5,342 | 14.7 |
| 2008 | 24 | #5,905 | 12.7 |
| 2007 | 30 | #4,911 | 15.6 |
| 2006 | 26 | #5,342 | 13.7 |
| 2005 | 28 | #4,801 | 15.2 |
| 2004 | 29 | #4,675 | 15.8 |
| 2003 | 22 | #5,549 | 12.0 |
| 2002 | 15 | #7,350 | 8.3 |
| 2001 | 23 | #5,130 | 12.8 |
| 2000 | 15 | #7,059 | 8.3 |
| 1999 | 17 | #6,124 | 9.6 |
| 1998 | 23 | #4,757 | 13.0 |
| 1997 | 16 | #6,091 | 9.2 |
| 1996 | 18 | #5,462 | 10.3 |
| 1995 | 17 | #5,615 | 9.7 |
| 1994 | 12 | #7,467 | 6.7 |
| 1993 | 14 | #6,517 | 7.7 |
| 1992 | 12 | #7,391 | 6.5 |
| 1991 | 14 | #6,487 | 7.5 |
| 1990 | 13 | #6,747 | 6.8 |
| 1989 | 22 | #4,323 | 11.9 |
| 1988 | 16 | #5,239 | 9.0 |
| 1987 | 18 | #4,607 | 10.4 |
| 1986 | 12 | #6,045 | 7.0 |
| 1985 | 22 | #3,810 | 12.8 |
| 1984 | 20 | #3,948 | 11.9 |
| 1983 | 16 | #4,629 | 9.6 |
| 1982 | 30 | #2,999 | 17.7 |
| 1981 | 27 | #3,218 | 16.2 |
| 1980 | 33 | #2,783 | 19.9 |
| 1979 | 36 | #2,565 | 22.4 |
| 1978 | 34 | #2,550 | 22.2 |
| 1977 | 54 | #1,869 | 35.2 |
| 1976 | 48 | #1,904 | 32.8 |
| 1975 | 52 | #1,797 | 35.7 |
| 1974 | 68 | #1,467 | 46.3 |
| 1973 | 54 | #1,681 | 37.0 |
| 1972 | 78 | #1,311 | 51.3 |
| 1971 | 96 | #1,193 | 57.7 |
| 1970 | 69 | #1,469 | 39.5 |
| 1969 | 54 | #1,644 | 32.0 |
| 1968 | 57 | #1,515 | 34.7 |
| 1967 | 21 | #2,762 | 12.7 |
| 1966 | 22 | #2,640 | 13.0 |
| 1965 | 32 | #2,102 | 18.1 |
| 1964 | 29 | #2,291 | 15.3 |
| 1963 | 70 | #1,327 | 36.3 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Phaedra a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Phaedra has been recorded only for girls: SSA lists no boys with the name in 63 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Phaedra: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Phaedra, and how old are they?
1,820 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 96% of the 1,902 Americans ever recorded as Phaedra. The median Phaedra alive today is 42 years old; half are between 18 and 54.
The 2020 Census counted 1,641 people named Phaedra (1,635 women and girls, 6 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 1,719 born in the U.S. The Census count is 5% below that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 86 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 751 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 275 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 381 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 325 |
An estimate, not a count. SSA’s files count people born in the United States who received a Social Security number, so anyone born abroad is not in them; before 1937 most people got a number as adults, and their survival is counted from that age.
Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).
Where are babies named Phaedra born?
The states with the most babies named Phaedra are California, New York and Texas, with 60% of its births recorded by state since 1910.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 123 | not ranked | 0.6× |
| New York | 51 | not ranked | 0.4× |
| Texas | 45 | not ranked | 0.3× |
| Pennsylvania | 31 | not ranked | 0.3× |
| Florida | 21 | not ranked | 0.3× |
| Illinois | 16 | not ranked | 0.2× |
| Alabama | 15 | not ranked | 0.5× |
| Ohio | 15 | not ranked | 0.2× |
| Georgia | 11 | not ranked | 0.2× |
| Louisiana | 6 | not ranked | 0.2× |
States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among girls’ names in the state in 2025. The file leaves out any state and year with fewer than 5 babies of the name, so small states are undercounted; each ratio compares the state’s births of Phaedra with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Phaedra
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
More about Phaedra and names like it
- Compare Phaedra and NicolBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1970sPhaedra peaked in 1971.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Phaedra since 1910.
- Ancient Greek namesWiktionary’s origin for Phaedra: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 1971The year the most babies were named Phaedra.
- The names of Generation XMost people named Phaedra alive today were born 1965-1980.
- Names starting with PMost given first.