Philomene
Philomene was last recorded in 1960, when 5 babies were given it; 544 Americans have been recorded with it between 1882 and 1960 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Philomene by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Philomene mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Philomene is “a female given name from French.”
From French Philomène. Doublet of Philomena.
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Philomene?
Unranked in 2025
Its last girls’ rank on record is #7,075, in 1960; SSA lists a name only in years with 5 or more births.
22 babies in 1915, the peak
Philomene peaked in 1915, when 22 girls were given it, #1,609 among girls’ names. It was not recorded in 2025.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1960 | 5 | #7,075 | 2.5 |
| 1953 | 5 | #6,315 | 2.7 |
| 1951 | 6 | #5,274 | 3.3 |
| 1949 | 7 | #4,557 | 4.1 |
| 1947 | 5 | #5,925 | 2.8 |
| 1941 | 5 | #4,921 | 4.1 |
| 1938 | 5 | #4,843 | 4.5 |
| 1935 | 5 | #4,759 | 4.8 |
| 1934 | 10 | #2,893 | 9.6 |
| 1933 | 9 | #3,063 | 8.9 |
Every recorded year (56)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1932 | 11 | #2,796 | 10.3 |
| 1931 | 6 | #4,239 | 5.6 |
| 1930 | 5 | #5,101 | 4.4 |
| 1929 | 10 | #3,097 | 9.0 |
| 1928 | 8 | #3,681 | 6.9 |
| 1927 | 15 | #2,412 | 12.6 |
| 1926 | 6 | #4,724 | 5.1 |
| 1925 | 14 | #2,591 | 11.5 |
| 1924 | 13 | #2,785 | 10.4 |
| 1923 | 14 | #2,566 | 11.6 |
| 1922 | 13 | #2,737 | 10.8 |
| 1921 | 18 | #2,179 | 14.6 |
| 1920 | 16 | #2,341 | 13.4 |
| 1919 | 17 | #2,135 | 15.0 |
| 1918 | 15 | #2,357 | 13.0 |
| 1917 | 17 | #2,080 | 15.7 |
| 1916 | 17 | #2,012 | 16.3 |
| 1915 | 22 | #1,609 | 22.4 |
| 1914 | 13 | #1,992 | 17.1 |
| 1913 | 11 | #1,999 | 17.6 |
| 1912 | 16 | #1,408 | 28.7 |
| 1911 | 9 | #1,765 | 21.5 |
| 1910 | 8 | #1,901 | 20.2 |
| 1909 | 6 | #2,170 | 17.3 |
| 1908 | 11 | #1,332 | 32.9 |
| 1907 | 9 | #1,484 | 28.3 |
| 1906 | 6 | #1,910 | 20.3 |
| 1904 | 8 | #1,455 | 29.1 |
| 1903 | 5 | #2,015 | 19.1 |
| 1902 | 11 | #1,122 | 41.7 |
| 1901 | 5 | #1,890 | 20.9 |
| 1900 | 13 | #1,095 | 43.4 |
| 1899 | 12 | #971 | 51.5 |
| 1897 | 6 | #1,517 | 25.6 |
| 1896 | 10 | #1,111 | 42.0 |
| 1895 | 11 | #1,041 | 47.1 |
| 1894 | 6 | #1,458 | 26.9 |
| 1893 | 8 | #1,154 | 37.6 |
| 1892 | 12 | #896 | 56.5 |
| 1891 | 7 | #1,188 | 37.7 |
| 1889 | 8 | #1,012 | 44.9 |
| 1887 | 5 | #1,274 | 34.3 |
| 1886 | 5 | #1,247 | 34.6 |
| 1885 | 13 | #621 | 97.7 |
| 1883 | 5 | #1,024 | 44.5 |
| 1882 | 6 | #883 | 55.6 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Philomene a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Philomene has been recorded only for girls: SSA lists no boys with the name in 56 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Philomene: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Philomene, and how old are they?
An estimated 34 Americans named Philomene and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026, too few to state an age range. An estimate from SSA’s births and life tables, not a count.
The 2020 Census counted 656 people named Philomene (652 women and girls, 4 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 58 born in the U.S. The Census count is 11.3 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).
Names spelled alike
Of these 4 names spelled alike, given to 10,651 babies since 1880, Philomene is the second most given (5.1% of them). In 2025 none of their 101 babies recorded by SSA was a Philomene (SSA lists a name only with 5 or more babies of one sex).
Spelled alike: names in the SSA national file with the same pattern of letters and sounds and at most two letters apart, and Wiktionary’s listed forms; births since 1880 and in 2025, and each name’s peak year, from the SSA national file, published May 8, 2026. Some are separate names, not spellings of one.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Philomene
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 Philomene and names like it
- Compare Philomene and PhilomenaBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1910sPhilomene peaked in 1915.
- Louisiana’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Philomene since 1910.
- French namesWiktionary’s origin for Philomene: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 1915The year the most babies were named Philomene.
- Names starting with PMost given first.