Philippa Meaning — Origin & Biblical Significance

Philippa is the feminine of Philip, from the Greek Philippos: philos, 'loving,' and hippos, 'horse.' It was a Macedonian royal name — Philip II, father of Alexander — and reached English through the Normans, most notably with Philippa of Hainault, queen to Edward III, who talked him out of executing the burghers of Calais.

The masculine is thoroughly scriptural, and two distinct men carry it. Philip the apostle is the one who brings Nathanael with the line 'Come and see' (John 1:46) and who asks at the last supper, 'Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us' (John 14:8). Philip the evangelist is the deacon of Acts 6 who preaches in Samaria and then runs alongside the Ethiopian eunuch's chariot to explain Isaiah 53 to him (Acts 8:30-35).

The evangelist is also the reason this name has a distinctly female footnote in Scripture: 'And the same man had four daughters, virgins, which did prophesy' (Acts 21:9). Four unnamed women in one household, all prophesying, in a single verse Luke passes over without comment.

Philippa itself is not in the Bible — feminine forms of this kind are later European coinages. It is used mainly in Britain, Australia and Germany, where Pippa is the near-universal short form, and Philippa is one of the few classical feminines that has kept its formality without sounding heavy.