Philippa
Fewer than 20 women in Poland carry it, and most Poles will never meet one. From Greek, the name means "lover of horses".
Philippa Pronunciation
What Philippa means
Where Philippa comes from and what it has meant to the people who carry it.
Philippa began in Greek. It joins philos, meaning loving, to hippos, the word for horse, and the sense that survives is lover of horses. The masculine Filip stands beside it, and the softer variant Filipa turns up on Polish rolls as well.
The name grew English through a queen. Philippa of Hainault married Edward III in 1328 and reigned at his side for over forty years. Chroniclers of the period credited her with pleading mercy for the burghers of Calais in 1347. Her name moved with her court, and English families kept using it for centuries after her death.
The Greek horse never left. Polish spelling smoothed the older sound, so the hippos inside Filipa hides from a first glance. It still binds the girl's name to Filip, its cross-gender twin. On a Polish class register today, Filip answers early in the roll while Filipa holds the same root a few names down, both of them lovers of horses.
How many people are named Philippa
1 in 1186518 women in Poland is named Philippa. 19 people carry it in the 2025 register: rank #10378 among female names.
Philippa's popularity over time
Fewer than 2 girls were given the name in 2025. It has been stable for a decade.
Philippa as a middle name
Philippa is a first name for 19 women in Poland and a middle name for another 10, a 66/34 split. In the women's middle-name ranking it sits 2461st, between Orit (10) and Przybysława (10).
-
#2459 Olszyna10
-
#2460 Orit10
-
#2461 Philippa10
-
#2462 Przybysława10
-
#2463 Putri10