Phoebe

Phoebe is the Latinized form of the Greek name Φοίβη (Phoibe), meaning “bright, pure” from Greek φοῖβος (phoibos). In Greek mythology, Phoibe was a Titan associated with the moon, and the name was also an epithet of her granddaughter, the moon goddess Artemis. It appears in Paul’s Epistle to the Romans in the New Testament, where it belongs to a female minister in the church at Cenchreae. In England, it came into use as a given name after the Protestant Reformation, was moderately common in the 19th century, and began rising again in the late 1980s, probably helped along by characters on the American television shows Friends (1994–2004) and Charmed (1998–2006). It is now much more common in the United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand than in the United States, and a moon of Saturn bears the name in honor of the Titan.

Phoebe rose from #183 to #157 for girls between 2024 and 2025. That year also produced its highest recorded birth count, at 1,885.