Philo
Philo was given to 6 boys in 2025, #11,659 among boys’ names; 390 Americans have been recorded with it since 1880 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Philo by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
How popular is Philo?
#11,659 among boys’ names, 2025
Philo rose from #11,729 in 2015 to #11,659 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born rose from 3.1 to 3.5 per million.
13 babies in 2017, the peak
Philo peaked in 2017, when 13 boys were given it, #6,575 among boys’ names. The 6 births of 2025 are 46% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 6 | #11,659 | 3.5 |
| 2024 | 10 | #8,167 | 5.8 |
| 2023 | 11 | #7,618 | 6.4 |
| 2022 | 9 | #8,811 | 5.2 |
| 2021 | 9 | #8,660 | 5.1 |
| 2020 | 8 | #9,333 | 4.6 |
| 2019 | 10 | #8,056 | 5.6 |
| 2018 | 13 | #6,609 | 7.2 |
| 2017 | 13 | #6,575 | 7.0 |
| 2016 | 11 | #7,479 | 5.8 |
Every recorded year (51)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 6 | #11,729 | 3.1 |
| 2014 | 9 | #8,615 | 4.7 |
| 2013 | 8 | #9,436 | 4.2 |
| 2011 | 5 | #13,806 | 2.6 |
| 2010 | 6 | #11,816 | 3.1 |
| 2005 | 5 | #12,851 | 2.5 |
| 2003 | 6 | #10,518 | 3.0 |
| 1975 | 5 | #6,076 | 3.2 |
| 1958 | 5 | #4,358 | 2.4 |
| 1957 | 6 | #3,876 | 2.8 |
| 1955 | 6 | #3,787 | 2.9 |
| 1951 | 7 | #3,286 | 3.7 |
| 1949 | 7 | #3,226 | 3.9 |
| 1943 | 9 | #2,693 | 6.3 |
| 1940 | 5 | #3,820 | 4.3 |
| 1938 | 7 | #3,096 | 6.3 |
| 1936 | 11 | #2,265 | 10.6 |
| 1935 | 9 | #2,671 | 8.6 |
| 1934 | 5 | #4,091 | 4.8 |
| 1933 | 7 | #3,212 | 7.1 |
| 1932 | 6 | #3,678 | 5.7 |
| 1930 | 10 | #2,741 | 9.1 |
| 1929 | 5 | #4,412 | 4.6 |
| 1928 | 7 | #3,626 | 6.3 |
| 1927 | 7 | #3,702 | 6.2 |
| 1926 | 7 | #3,627 | 6.3 |
| 1925 | 9 | #3,087 | 8.1 |
| 1924 | 9 | #3,198 | 7.9 |
| 1922 | 9 | #3,186 | 8.3 |
| 1921 | 10 | #2,935 | 9.1 |
| 1920 | 7 | #3,743 | 6.6 |
| 1919 | 5 | #4,650 | 5.1 |
| 1918 | 11 | #2,662 | 10.9 |
| 1917 | 9 | #2,896 | 9.7 |
| 1916 | 10 | #2,688 | 11.2 |
| 1915 | 9 | #2,771 | 10.6 |
| 1914 | 6 | #3,177 | 9.2 |
| 1912 | 5 | #2,823 | 11.6 |
| 1889 | 5 | #1,078 | 45.2 |
| 1881 | 5 | #973 | 49.6 |
| 1880 | 5 | #1,029 | 45.3 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Philo a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Philo has been recorded only for boys: SSA lists no girls with the name in 51 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Philo: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Philo, and how old are they?
An estimated 180 Americans named Philo and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (46% of everyone recorded); the median is 10 years old and half are between 6 and 21. An estimate from SSA’s births and life tables, not a count.
The 2020 Census counted 339 people named Philo (58 women and girls, 281 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 146 born in the U.S. The Census count is 2.3 times that prediction. Possible reasons: the Census counts people born abroad, whom SSA’s files leave out, and it records the name people give, which SSA may have recorded under another spelling or as part of a compound name.
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).
More about Philo and names like it
- The most given names of the 2010sPhilo peaked in 2017.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Philo since 1910.
- The top names of 2017The year the most babies were named Philo.
- The names of Generation AlphaMost people named Philo alive today were born 2013-2025.
- Names starting with PMost given first.