Given name & surname
Pippa
“a friend of horses”
Pippa is a contracted form of Philippa with a nineteenth-century poetic story.
Meaning & origin
What it means
In English use, Pippa is an affectionate form of Philippa. In English use, Philippa carries the interpretation “a friend of horses.”
Explained through its name family
How it developed
In English usage, Pippa is a diminutive of Philippa. Pippa is an affectionate form of Philippa.
The story
Robert Browning’s Pippa Passes helped make the name familiar in 1841. Its heroine works in an Italian silk mill, but that setting does not by itself establish Pippa as a traditional Italian name.
Pippa through the years
- Babies since 1880
- 1,702
- 0 boys · 1,702 girls
- Most popular year
- 2014
- 120 babies
- 2025
- 107
- #1,864 for girls
- 2021–25 vs 2016–20
- −8%
- Steady
Where it’s given
By the numbers
In 2025, this name appeared in 107 U.S. birth records for girls, ranking No. 1,864 among girls’ names. Average annual use for girls was 8.4% lower in 2021–2025 than in 2016–2020. Its largest published annual count for girls was 120 in 2014. In 2025, Texas had the largest reported state-level birth count for girls with this name (13). Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 1,272 as a first name in 2020; 105 as a surname in 2020.
From Social Security birth records and U.S. Census name counts for this exact spelling. Other spellings are counted separately.
Pippa’s family of names
In English usage, Pippa is a diminutive of Philippa. In Greek usage, Pippa as a surname is a transliteration of Πίππα. Pippa is an affectionate form of Philippa.
Inner ring: spellings · middle: nicknames and forms · outer: across languages.
Around the world
Pippa has relatives in 3 languages.
3 related names in 3 languages. Point at a dot, or tab to the map and use the arrow keys.
Nicknames & forms 2
Diminutives, pet forms, short forms and variants used alongside the name.
Spellings & scripts 2
The same name written differently, including transliterations into other scripts.
Across languages 3
Equivalents and cognates in other languages, plus older forms it grew from.
People named Pippa
- Pippa MiddletonBritish socialite, author and columnist; sister of Catherine, Princess of Walesborn 1983
- Pippa NorrisBritish American political scientistborn 1953
- Pippa BlackAustralian actressborn 1982
- Pippa FunnellBritish equestrianborn 1968
- Pippa WilsonEnglish sailorborn 1986
- Pippa ScottAmerican actress (born 1935)1934–2025
- Pippa Mannracecar driverborn 1983
- Pippa HaywoodBritish actressborn 1961
- Pippa HarrisBritish film and television producer/executiveborn 1967
Listed by how widely each person is written about, which says nothing about the name itself.
Similar names
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