Philip Family History

Scottish English German Dutch and Jewish: from the Greek personal name Philippos (from philein ‘to love’ + hippos ‘horse’). In the New Testament this name is borne by one of the apostles; it was also borne by various other early Christian saints. It owes part of its popularity to the medieval romances about Alexander the Great whose father was Philip of Macedon.

As a Jewish name it represents a borrowing of the personal name from Christians. As a Highland Scottish surname it represents an Anglicized form of Gaelic Mac Fhilib ‘son of Philip’. In North America the English form of the surname has absorbed cognates from other languages e.g. Spanish Felipe Catalan Felip Polish Czech Slovak Slovenian or Croatian Filip Albanian Filipi and their derivatives (see examples at Philips).

The name Philip is also found among Christians in southern India (compare Philipose and Pothen) but since South Indians traditionally do not have hereditary surnames the southern Indian name was in most cases registered as such only after immigration of its bearers to the US. Compare Phillip.

French (southern) and Breton (Finistère): variant of Philippe.