Holiday Calendar

National Philip Day

Next celebratedSunday, August 15, 2027

Demosthenes spent a decade denouncing a Macedonian king, and the Greek name for those speeches became the English word philippic; Philip II's own name meant fond of horses. August 15 belongs to everyone who carries it.

Countdown to the day
--DAYS
--HRS
--MIN
--SEC
Last updated September 6, 2026 · by the Holiday Calendar TeamHave an update or spot an error?
YEARLY DATEAugust 15
OBSERVED INInternationally
CATEGORYNames
ORIGIN

Community Origin

FOUNDING ENTITY
Not documented
FIRST OBSERVED
Not documented
HOW THE HOLIDAY CAME TO BE

Thirty name days in Europe, and none on August 15.

Philip's traditional name days sit elsewhere on the calendar, mostly in May, and none of the European name-day tables surveyed for this page places him on August 15. For the August observance itself, no founder, proclamation or first-observance record has been located. The earliest datable trace is a holiday-listing page archived in August 2023, which fixes a floor for that listing rather than for the day, so the inception year is left unknown.

+ Know the story? Submit a founder Help us complete this holiday
INTRO

How a horse lover's name became a tirade

Somewhere in the fourth century BCE, Athens' best orator picked a target and would not let go. Demosthenes spent a decade denouncing a Macedonian king, and the Greek name for those speeches, Philippikoi logoi, eventually arrived in English as an ordinary noun. A philippic is now a discourse or declamation full of bitter condemnation.

The king was Philip II of Macedon. His name comes from the Greek Philippos, fond of horses, built out of philos, beloved, and hippos, horse. A word for someone who likes horses became a word for a public savaging.

National Philip Day falls on August 15 and belongs to anyone who carries the name. Europe has been marking Philip for centuries, though, on about thirty other dates.

Advertisement
ORIGINS

Philip Day history

CHAPTER 01

The king Athens could not stop talking about

Philip II was born in 382 BCE. He came to the throne suddenly and unexpectedly in 359, when Perdiccas was killed meeting an Illyrian invasion. He bought off the dangerous neighbours and used the time that bought him on military preparations.

In Athens, Demosthenes watched the north and did not like what he saw. Between 351 and 341 BCE he delivered the speeches urging Greeks to unite against the rising Macedonian power. They failed as policy.

In 336 BCE, at a feast held to celebrate his daughter's wedding, Philip was assassinated at Aegae by Pausanias, a young Macedonian noble with a private grievance. The speeches kept going. The name of the man they attacked is now, in lowercase, a word for an attack.

CHAPTER 02

Two saints, thirty dates, and not one in August

The calendar Philip actually lives on was built by the church. St Philip the Apostle came from Bethsaida of Galilee, and his feast falls on May 3 in the West and November 14 in the East. St Philip Neri, who died in Rome on 26 May 1595, took a third date.

Thirty name days for Philip and four of its European forms turn up across twelve countries in Behind the Name's tables. The two commonest are May 26 and May 3, in five countries and in four. Add the Apostle's eastern feast on November 14 and those three saints' dates account for eleven of the thirty entries.

August 15 is on none of them. In those same calendars the date is already busy, because it is the Assumption, and the same tables return six August 15 name days for Maria. Nothing in the record explains why the August observance sits where it does.

CHAPTER 03

A name on the map, and a day with no paperwork

Spain's Philip was still only an heir when his name went onto the map. He was born on 21 May 1527, and Charles V did not hand him the kingdoms of Spain until 16 January 1556. Before any of that, the Spanish explorer Ruy Lopez de Villalobos put his name on an archipelago: Islas Filipinas, the islands of Philip.

National Philip Day has no such paper trail. No founder, proclamation or first-observance record has been found for it. The earliest datable trace anywhere is a holiday-listing page archived in August 2023, and that dates the listing, not the day.

WHY THIS DAY MATTERS

Why We Love National Philip Day

Confusion

A third Saint Philip, forever mistaken for the first

Britannica records that the Apostle was often confused with St Philip the Evangelist, one of the seven deacons of the early church named in Acts 6:5. They are two different men with two different lives. Anyone searching for Saint Philip is really searching for at least three.

Decline

The name is at its lowest ebb on record

Philip has been recorded 344,036 times in US birth data since 1880, and it has never once missed a year. In 1953 it went to 6,279 boys. In 2025 it went to 568, and the name now sits lower in the national rankings than in any other year of the series.

TIMELINE

Timeline

Philip II of Macedon is born

The king whose name English would later borrow as a common noun is born in Macedonia.

Philip takes the Macedonian throne

He inherits suddenly, after Perdiccas is killed meeting an Illyrian invasion, and begins rebuilding the army.

Demosthenes opens his attacks

The Athenian orator begins the run of speeches against Philip that he keeps up until 341 BCE.

Philip is assassinated at Aegae

Pausanias, a young Macedonian noble with a private grievance, kills the king at a wedding feast.

Spain's Philip finally becomes king

Charles V resigns the kingdoms of Spain to his son on 16 January, after an archipelago had already been named for him.

Philip Neri dies in Rome

His death on 26 May becomes a feast day, and five European countries still keep it as a Philip name day.

GOOD TO KNOW

Surprising facts about National Philip Day

The word was recycled onto a completely different enemy

Latin took the Greek label for Demosthenes' speeches and reused it. The same word was applied to the speeches Cicero made against Marc Antony in 44 and 43 BCE, a Roman target, within three centuries of the first.

Sparta answered Philip in a single word

The standard illustration of laconic speech is a reply to this same king. Philip warned the Spartans, If I enter Laconia, I will raze Sparta to the ground. Their answer was one word: If.

Philip was once a name for a sparrow

In old poetry the word was imitative of the chirp of a sparrow, so it became a common name for one. In the sixteenth century, Philip and Cheyney was a way of saying any two common men.

One Philip is the patron saint of laughing

St Philip Neri was canonized in 1622 and is venerated as the patron saint of joy, laughter and humour, on the strength of his line that a joyful heart is more easily made perfect than a downcast one.

A woman once appealed from Philip to Philip

Emerson retold the story in 1844. A woman refused justice by the king announced that she would appeal, and when Philip asked to whom, she answered: From Philip drunk to Philip sober.

For them Philip is a tabu man, human but possessing qualities and powers that make him sacred
Matthew BaylisAuthor of Man Belong Mrs Queen, who lived on Tanna, Vanuatu, among villagers who revere Prince Philip

GET INVOLVED

How to Celebrate National Philip Day

EDITOR'S PICK

Find the name day your Philip never got

Pick from the European calendar instead of the American one. A Filip in Sweden celebrates on May 2 and one in Czechia on May 26, while a Filip in Poland can choose between nine separate dates.

READ

Read one of the Philippics out loud

Demosthenes wrote them to be heard, not skimmed. Reading a few minutes of the speeches that gave English the word is the fastest way to understand why it means what it means.

FOLLOW

Follow the name onto a map

Look up the Philippines and its older Spanish name, Islas Filipinas. Other early Spanish names for the islands included Islas del Poniente, the Islands of the West.

ANSWER

Answer one question in a single word

Sparta's reply to a threat from Philip was the word If. Try it once during the day and see how much you can leave unsaid.

KEEP

Keep the day in good humour

Of every Philip on the European calendar, Neri is the one whose patronage is joy and laughter. Give part of August 15 to that, and let the tirades wait.

Test your knowledge

How well do you know National Philip Day?

1 / 8

What does the name Philip mean?

Answer

No. No proclamation, statute or registry entry for the day surfaced in the searches run for this page, so it is an unofficial observance and a normal working day.

COLOPHON

Sources

How we know what’s on this page. References, not endorsements.

13sources
1primary records
3independently dated
Primary records
US Social Security Administration2025
National data on the relative frequency of given names in US births
Year-by-year national birth-name counts from 1880 to 2025.
View source
Additional coverage
Encyclopaedia Britannica
Philip II, king of Macedonia
His birth in 382 BCE, his sudden accession in 359, and his assassination at Aegae.
View source
Encyclopaedia Britannica
St. Philip the Apostle
The Apostle's May 3 and November 14 feasts, and his long confusion with Philip the Evangelist.
View source
Encyclopaedia Britannica
St. Philip Neri
The Oratory founder who died on 26 May 1595 and became the patron saint of laughter.
View source
Encyclopaedia Britannica
Philip II, king of Spain and Portugal
Born in 1527, he received the kingdoms of Spain from Charles V on 16 January 1556.
View source
Encyclopaedia Britannica2026
Philippines
The country named for Philip II of Spain, with a population above 114 million.
View source
Online Etymology Dictionary
philippic
How Demosthenes' orations of 351 to 341 BCE became an English word for a tirade.
View source
Online Etymology Dictionary
Philip
The Greek roots philos and hippos, the sparrow nickname, and the Emerson anecdote.
View source
Online Etymology Dictionary
laconic
Traces the word to Laconia and quotes Sparta's one-word reply to Philip.
View source
Online Etymology Dictionary
Philippines
Islas Filipinas as the islands of Philip, named for the Prince of Asturias.
View source
Merriam-Webster
philippic
The current dictionary definition, a discourse full of bitter condemnation.
View source
Behind the Name
Name Days for the name Filip
Country-by-country name days for the main European form of Philip.
View source
ABC News2018-04-07
Prince Philip Movement: Prince Charles visits Vanuatu, where his father has a special past
How a community on Tanna came to regard Prince Philip as sacred.
View source
YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE

Related holidays

WED
21
Oct 2026
National Alexander Day
Names

National Alexander Day

Alexander is a compound, alexo plus aner, defending men rather than merely defender. October 21 hands it a day in the country that kept it outside its top 100 for fifty-nine unbroken years, while Scotland never let go.

68Read
WED
21
Apr 2026
National Alex Day
Names

National Alex Day

Alex is hiding inside Iskandar in Arabic, Sikandar in Urdu and Sasha in Russian. All of them get the day, along with a feminine form that began as an epithet of the goddess Hera.

194Read
FRI
03
Sep 2026
National Stephen Day
Names

National Stephen Day

Stephen led American birth records for their first seventy years, then lost to Steven in 1950 and has not been ahead since; England and Wales still register more Stephens. September 3 belongs to the name either way.

69Read
FOR MARKETERS & CREATORS

Turn every day into a moment your audience actually shows up for.

8.4M
Monthly readers
5K+
Holidays tracked
Holiday Calendar for Brands Developer API