Entry № 8135 · Greek origin

Phoebe Phoebe — Meaning, Origin & Baby Name Popularity

/ FEE-bee /
Gender
Girl
Origin
Greek
Meaning
"Bright, radiant"
Syllables
1
First recorded
Ancient (Greek)

A name that means "bright, radiant".

Phoebe comes from the Greek phoibē (φοίβη), meaning "bright," "radiant," or "shining." It was an epithet of the moon goddess Artemis and the name of one of the Titans of Greek mythology — grandmother of Apollo and Artemis. The same root gives Phoebus (Apollo's epithet).

Phoebe appears in the New Testament as a deaconess of the early church. Today it sits in the U.S. top 250 and is rising.

Bright, radiant — a Greek name.

The name in its native script.

Φοίβη
Transliteration
Phoíbē
Pronunciation
/ ˈfiː.bi /
Root
Grammatical form

Where Phoebe stands.

Phoebe does not currently appear in the US Social Security Administration's top 1,000 girls' names, so we don't publish a US rank or birth count for it. That says nothing about the name's standing elsewhere in the world — only that it sits outside the ranked US data we rely on.

Phoebes before her.

Real people
Phoebe Waller-Bridge
British actress, creator of Fleabag.
born 1985
Phoebe Bridgers
American singer-songwriter.
born 1994
In fiction
Phoebe Buffay
Character in Friends.
NBC, 1994–2004
Phoebe Halliwell
Character in Charmed.
WB, 1998–2006

Names connected to Phoebe.

The number behind Phoebe.

6

The Nurturer

In Pythagorean numerology the letters of Phoebe reduce to 6, The Nurturer. This is a traditional interpretive system, not a factual claim about the name.