Phyllis Explained

Phyllis
Gender:	Female
Meaning:	foliage
Language:	Greek

Phyllis or Phillis is a feminine given name of Greek origin meaning foliage. Phyllis is a minor figure in Greek mythology who killed herself in despair when Demophon of Athens did not return to her and who was transformed into an almond tree by the gods. Phillida, Phyllicia, and Phyllida are all variants of the name.^[1]

Usage

The name has been in use since the 1600s when, often spelled Phillis, it was used by English poets John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester and Matthew Prior. African-born American poet Phillis Wheatley (1753–1784), who was captured and enslaved in the United States and was later freed, was named Phillis by her enslavers after the slave ship on which she arrived. Phillis was a popular name for women among the population of enslaved women in the United States. In the spelling Phyllis, the name was popularized in the late 1800s after it was used by bestselling popular Irish novelist Margaret Wolfe Hungerford for the heroine of her 1877 romantic novel Phyllis, the Duchess. The name Phyllis was among the top 1,000 names for newborn girls in the United States in 1880 and increased in use in the late 19th century and early 20th century. The popularity of American actress Phyllis Haver (1899–1960), also raised the profile of the name. Phyllis was among the top 100 names for American girls by 1915 and peaked in popularity in 1929 as the 24th most popular name for American girls. It remained among the top 1,000 names for American girls until 1950 and then declined in use.^[2]

The name was also at its most popular in the Anglosphere, in countries such as Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom, in the first part of the 20th century.^[3]

People

• Phyllis Ackerman (1893–1977), American art historian, interior designer and author
• Phyllis Avery (1922–2011), American actress
• Phyllis Barber (born 1943), American writer
• Phyllis Bartholomew (1914–2002), English long jumper
• Phyllis Drummond Bethune (née Sharpe, 1899–1982), New Zealand artist
• Phyllis Birkby (1932–1994), American architect
• Phyllis Bramson (born 1941), American artist
• Phyllis Brooks (1915–1995), American actress and model
• Phyllis Calvert (1915–2002), British actress
• Phyllis Chesler (born 1940), American writer, psychotherapist, and professor
• Phyllis M. Christian (born 1956), Ghanaian lawyer and consultant
• Phyllis Cilento (1894–1987), Australian doctor and medical journalist
• Phyllis Clare (1905–1947), British actress
• Phyllis Coates (born 1927), American actress
• Phyllis Dare (1890–1975), English actress and singer
• Phyllis Worthy Dawkins (born 1953), American academic administrator
• Phyllis Diller (1917–2012), American actress/comedian
• Phyllis Dillon (1944–2004), Jamaican rocksteady and reggae singer
• Phyllis Eisenstein (1946–2020), American writer
• Phyllis Gardner (born 1950), American physician and professor
• Phyllis George (1949–2020), American businesswoman, actress, and sportscaster
• Phyllis Gotlieb (1926–2009), Canadian writer
• Phyllis Hyman (1949–1995), American jazz singer
• Phylis Lee Isley, birth name of Jennifer Jones (1919–2009), American film actress
• P. D. James (1920–2014), English crime fiction writer
• Phyllis Logan (born 1956), Scottish actress
• Phyllis Love (1925–2011), American actress
• Phyllis Nagy (born 1962), American screenwriter/director
• Phyllis Ndlovu (died 2022), Zimbabwean politician
• Phyllis Newman (1933–2019), American actress
• Phyllis Nicol (1908–1999), British athlete
• Phyllis Pearsall (1906–1996), British creator of the A to Z map of London
• Phyllis Quek (born 1972), Malaysian-based Singaporean actress
• Phyllis Reeve (born 1938), librarian and marina operator,
• Phyllis Schlafly (1924–2016), American writer and conservative activist
• Phyllis Smith (born 1951), American actress
• Phyllis Somerville (1943–2020), American actress
• Phyllis Taloikwai, senior government official in the Solomon Islands
• Phyllis Thaxter (1919–2012), American actress
• Phyllis The Housewife, a female wrestler from Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling
• Phyllis Webstad (born 1967), Canadian author and activist
• Phyllis A. Whitney (1903–2008), American mystery writer

Mythological and legendary characters

• The title character of the tale of Phyllis and Aristotle in medieval legend
• Phyllis (mythology), wife of Demophon, king of Athens
• Phyllis (river god)
• Phyllis, consort of Ereuthalion
• Phyllis, mother of the Trojan Alcaeus

Fictional characters

• Phyllis Dietrichson, in James Cain's novella Double Indemnity and two film adaptations
• Phyllis Lindstrom, on The Mary Tyler Moore Show and Phyllis, a 1970s TV spin-off, played by Cloris Leachman.
• Phyllis Pearce, a fictional character from the British soap opera Coronation Street, played by Jill Summers.
• Phyllis Summers Newman, on The Young and the Restless
• Phyllis Vance (née Lapin), on The Office played by Phyllis Smith.
• Phyllis (Passions), a minor character on Passions

Notes and References

1. Book: Hanks. Patrick. Hardcastle. Kate . Hodges. Flavia. 2006. Oxford Dictionary of First Names. Oxford University Press . 60. 0-19-861060-2.
2. Web site: Evans: Phyllis flourished thanks to poetry, prose and TV . Evans . Cleveland Kent . 17 July 2018 . omaha.com . Omaha World Herald . 12 December 2023 .
3. Web site: Meaning, origin and history of the name Phyllis .