Phebe

Spellings & scripts●

Locally spelled Phoebe in US United States, AU Australia, GB United Kingdom and 23 more and Φοιβη in CY Cyprus.

Spellings marked ● are how people bearing the name write it in our records; ○ marks a model's transliteration. Click a spelling to open its page.

Meaning & origin●

Attested across 10 languages in the etymology graph.

Languages●

Language is read off each record's context, not declared by the bearer; a share is of all records for this spelling.

Other names spelled this way◐

Phebe is also recorded as another name, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• a separate given name370 records spelled Phebe2 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, United Kingdom, Canada

  Also written Phébe

48 further groups record this spelling and are not listed here.

Grouping is the name graph's, not a register's: two spellings join a group when the evidence links them, so a group is a claim about the records rather than about the people.

Other recorded senses●

Phebe is also recorded in 5 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.

• In English, A female given name from Ancient Greek. Alternative spelling of Phoebe.

  as a word·kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

• In English, Pheidias [Phidias]

  as a name·Pronouncing Dictionary of Proper Names

• In English, Greek sculptor

  as a name·Pronouncing Dictionary of Proper Names

• In English, Biblical name

  as a name·Pronouncing Dictionary of Proper Names

• In German, weibl. Vom., niederländische Form von

  as a name·DUDEN Lexikon der Vornamen

Ordered by how much of this spelling's record each language holds, so a sense from a language the name is barely used in sits last rather than first.

Over time●

US SSA — National Baby Names (1880–present) — 146 years between 1880–2025. One register's own figures, never a sum across registers: two registers counting the same people would double them.

Notable people with this name●

• Anne Arnold Phebe Charlton Key Taneyb. 1783(1783–1855)
• Phoebe Lankesterb. 1825GBnot in their usual nameBritish botanist known for popular science writing (1825–1900)
• Phebe Ann Coffin Hannafordb. 1829USAmerican minister and author (1829-1921)
• Phebe Estelle Spaldingb. 1859USAmerican writer and educator
• Phebe Fjellströmb. 1924SESwedish ethnologist (1924-2007)
• Phebe Marrb. 1931USAmerican historian (born 1931)
• Phebe Cramerb. 1935USAmerican psychologist
• Phebe Novakovicb. 1957USAmerican businesswoman and former intelligence officer
• Phebe Hemphillb. 1960USAmerican sculptor (born 1960)
• Phebe Bekkerb. 2005GBBritish ice dancer

The ten people covered by the most Wikipedia language editions — a proxy for cross-cultural notability, which favours historical and Western figures over equally prominent contemporary ones — shown by birth year. Source: Wikidata (CC0).

Evidence●

Register rows as of the 2026-09-12 data build · 257 rows in the corpus for this spelling.

Frequently asked questions

How common is the name Phebe?

We estimate roughly 30 thousand people bear Phebe (counting its spellings and scripts) across 7 countries in our records.

In which country does Phebe have the most bearers?

Phebe is most frequently recorded in Australia, where it is most often spelled phoebe.

How common is Phebe compared with other names?

In Australia, Phebe is the 404th most common given name of 197,734 given names recorded there.

Is Phebe a male or female name?

Phebe is a female name in our records. Opposite-gender entries fall within the cross-gender noise we measure in the source data, so we don't report them as usage.

What does the name Phebe mean?

Recorded meaning: The bright one; in Greek mythology, a radiant, bright deity.