UK girl's name
Filomena
A feminine name of Greek origin meaning "lover of strength and vigor".
For 2026, the newest official UK baby-name figures on this page are from 2022. That release is the current official benchmark rather than a forecast.
Filomena is a girl's name in the UK records. People looking for Filomena popularity in 2026 should use the latest official release, which is 2022 in this profile. In that release it ranked #4645, with 4 babies registered with the name. Its strongest year in the published records was 2017, with 4 births.
This profile covers 12 England and Wales registrations across 3 recorded years from 2017 to 2022. The figures come from ONS England and Wales, so the page is a view of published baby-name registrations rather than a forecast or a live count of people using the name today.
The latest count is about 100% of the recorded peak, which gives a quick read on how the name has moved since its high point.
We estimate that about 12 living people in the UK are called Filomena. This uses published birth registrations from England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, then applies ONS national life tables to estimate how many are likely still alive. It does not forecast extra births for 2023 or 2026.
Key insights
- • Filomena ranked #4645 for girls in England and Wales in 2022, with 4 registrations.
- • The name peaked in 2017, when 4 girls were registered as Filomena.
- • About 12 living people in the UK are estimated to have Filomena as a first name, after adjusting past birth registrations with ONS life tables.
Latest rank (E&W)
#4645
2022
Births in 2022
4
Latest year
Peak year
2017
4 births
Estimated living
12
2026
Meaning
What does Filomena mean?
The name Filomena has its origins in Greek, and is derived from the Greek word "philos" meaning "beloved" and "menos" meaning "mind" or "spirit". It is a feminine form of the masculine name Philomenos. The name can be translated to mean "lover of strength" or "lover of fortitude".
In ancient Greek mythology, Philomela was a princess who was raped by her brother-in-law Tereus. After her tongue was cut out to prevent her from revealing the crime, she wove her story into a tapestry which she sent to her sister Procne. The two sisters eventually took revenge on Tereus by killing his son and serving him to Tereus as food. The gods then transformed Philomela into a nightingale, and Procne into a swallow.
The name Filomena appears to have been in use in various forms across Europe since the Middle Ages. One of the earliest recorded instances is in the 12th century, when a Filomena de Briouze was mentioned in records from Normandy, France.
In the 13th century, a Filomena de Lusignan, who was a daughter of the King of Cyprus and Jerusalem, became a notable figure. She was married to a Prince of Antioch and played a role in the political intrigues of the time.
During the Italian Renaissance, the name gained popularity in Italy, where it was sometimes spelled as Filumena or Filumina. One of the most famous bearers of the name was Filomena Beauharnais (1798-1844), who was the daughter of Eugène de Beauharnais and thus the granddaughter of Joséphine de Beauharnais, the first wife of Napoleon Bonaparte.
In the 19th century, Saint Filomena, also known as Saint Philomena, became a revered figure in the Catholic Church, although her historical existence is somewhat disputed. According to tradition, she was a young Greek princess who was martyred in Rome during the reign of Emperor Diocletian in the early 4th century.
Other notable individuals with the name Filomena include Filomena Spira (1776-1842), an Italian artist and engraver, and Filomena Mendoza Batil (1945-2022), a Filipino politician and educator who served as a member of the House of Representatives of the Philippines.
Sourced from namecensus.com.
Popularity
Filomena over time
The chart below shows babies named Filomena registered in England and Wales in the years where the name appears in the published records, from 2017 to 2022. Empty years are left out so rare names are not stretched across long periods where the published files do not show any registrations.
For Filomena, the clearest high point is 2017. The latest England and Wales figure is 4 births in 2022, compared with 4 at the peak.
Babies born per year
Decades
Filomena by decade
Decade totals smooth out the yearly jumps and make it easier to see whether Filomena was a short-lived spike or a name that stayed in regular use. Average rank is calculated only from years where a published rank exists.
| Decade | Average rank | Total births | Years covered |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020s | #4640 | 8 | 2 |
| 2010s | #4763 | 4 | 1 |
Related
Names similar to Filomena
- Freya 50,564
- Florence 32,908
- Francesca 18,752
- Faith 14,325
- Fatima 11,112
- Faye 8,999
- Felicity 8,554
- Frankie 6,977
- Ffion 6,115
- Flora 3,499
- Frances 3,417
- Fatimah 3,065
FAQ
Filomena: questions and answers
How popular is the name Filomena in the UK right now?
In 2022, Filomena was ranked #4645 for girls in England and Wales, with 4 births registered.
When was Filomena most popular?
The peak year on record was 2017, with 4 babies registered as Filomena in England and Wales.
What is the meaning and origin of Filomena?
A feminine name of Greek origin meaning "lover of strength and vigor".
How many people are called Filomena in the UK?
A total of 12 babies have been registered as Filomena across the 3 years of ONS England & Wales records shown here.
Which records is this page based on?
The England and Wales timeline uses ONS baby-name records. Scotland figures come from NRS and Northern Ireland figures come from NISRA. Counts are registrations in published baby-name files. The living estimate uses those birth registrations with ONS national life tables.