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 [ 4 syll. (p)hi-lo-me-na, ph-ilom-ena ] The girl name Philomena is pronounced FIHLahMIYNah KEY. Philomena is of Old Greek origin. It is used mainly in English and German. The name Philomena means 'strongly beloved'. Original forms of the name include Philomenes (Old Greek) and Philomenus (Latin). The name is derived from the Greek philein ('to love') or philos ('friend') combined with menos ('strength'). It was borne by Saint Philomena (291-304), known as a young Greek princess and martyr; her remains were discovered at San Severino in 1527. The relics of another Saint Philomena was unearthed in Rome in 1802, leading to a cult following and the subsequent popularity of the name in Italy. The popularity of the cult and the name declined when it was later realized that the Latin inscription on the tomb, 'Filumena pax tecum' meaning 'peace be with you, beloved', did not actually refer to the name of the saint. Forms of Philomena include the Basque, Italian, Portuguese, Slavic, and Spanish Filomena, the Dutch Philomeen, and the German Philomene. The short form Phil (English), and the pet forms Phillie (English) and Philly (English) are other variants of the name. Philomena is unusual as a baby girl name. Its usage peaked modestly in 1915 with 0.028% of baby girls being named Philomena. It had a ranking of #355 then. The baby name has markedly dropped in popularity since then, and is currently used only on an infrequent scale. Among all girl names in its family, Philomena was nevertheless the most widely used in 2008. Baby names that sound like Philomena include the Basque, Italian, Portuguese, Slavic, and Spanish Filomena, the Italian Flaminia, the Dutch Philomeen, the German Philomene, the English, German, Italian, and Spanish Felina, the German Philine, the German Philline, the German Feline, the English Flan, and the English and Irish Flann. KEY: Pronunciation for Philomena: F as in "fee (F.IY)" ; IH as in "it (IH.T)" ; L as in "lee (L.IY)" ; AH as in "hut (HH.AH.T)" ; M as in "me (M.IY)" ; IY as in "eat (IY.T)" ; N as in "knee (N.IY)" ; AH as in "hut (HH.AH.T)"   |
