FILIPPI
Filippi is a surname of both Greek and Italian provenance. It is derived from the medieval Greek given name Philippos, which in turn comes from the elements philein meaning “to love” and hippos meaning “horse”. In Italian, the name was adopted in the form Filippo, the Italian variant of Philip, and the surname develops from this personal name.
The surname is patronymic, originally used to indicate a descendant of an individual called Filippo. Its literal meaning is “lover of horses” or “friend of horses”, a definition that is preserved in the numerous historical records that trace the name back to the medieval period.
In the Latinised form, the term philippus was also used as an occupational name for a person who worked with horses, such as a horse trader, breeder, farrier or saddler. The name therefore carries connotations of friendship, strength and protection, qualities that have been associated with bearers of the name throughout the centuries.
Over one hundred orthographic variants exist, including Philip, Phillip, Filip, Lippi, Filippeli, Filipichov and Khilkov. These spellings have been found across Europe, from Spain to the Russian steppes, reflecting the spread of the name during the medieval era.
Early documentary evidence of the surname appears in the late twelfth and early thirteenth centuries. For example, Wernherus Philippi of Worms in Germany is recorded in 1274, and in England a Henry Philip is listed in the 1275 Hundred Rolls of Norfolk. These testimonies illustrate the name’s presence in diverse linguistic and cultural contexts.
In Italy the surname is particularly common in the central and southern regions. It is widely found in Tuscany, Umbria, Lazio, Marche, Abruzzo, Molise, Campania, and the southern provinces of Calabria, Apulia and Sicily. According to the latest statistical data, it ranks as the 151st most common surname in the country, with a strong concentration in the centre‑south. The name also occurs frequently in Lombardy, Veneto and Emilia‑Romagna, albeit to a lesser degree.
The Filippi surname has spread globally through emigration. In the United States it is the 4,408th most common surname, and it is similarly represented in Germany (rank 899) and in Mexico (rank 388). In Argentina it ranks 217th, and it is also noted in France, Colombia and Peru, largely due to Italian diaspora communities establishing themselves in these countries during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
In addition to the Italian form, the name is known in many languages under a wide range of spellings such as Phillippe, Phillippi, Filipi in France, Philipps and Philips in Germany, and Phillips, Fillips in Anglicised contexts. Within Italian dialects the name appears as Filippini, Filippazzo, Fillipucci, Filipazza.
Overall, the surname Filippi embodies a rich linguistic heritage that combines a Classical Greek root with a medieval Italian patronymic tradition, and it remains a widespread family name across several continents, reflecting both historical migration patterns and the enduring appeal of its original meaning.
Similar and related surnames
Related and similar names are generated algorithmically based on the spelling, and may not necessarily share an etymology.
How to communicate the surname Filippi in...
Braille
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Morse
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Semaphore
There are approximately 154 people named Filippi in the UK. That makes it one of Britain's least common surnames. Only around two in a million people in Britain are named Filippi.
Famous people named Filippi
- Joe Filippi - Scottish football player
Names and descriptions courtesy of Wikipedia, and may contain errors. This is not intended to be an exhaustive list of every famous person with this name.