PHELPS members around the world

PHELPS Family History

Recorded in over one hundred spelling forms from Phillipus, Philip, Phipps, Phelps, and apparently Pherps, and found through Christendom, this is a surname of Greek origins. However spelt it derives from the personal name of Ancient Greek origins "Philippos", a compound of the words "philein" meaning to love and "hippos", a horse; and hence "lover of horses". Philip of Macedon, the father of Alexander the Great, was the first famous bearer of the name, and its popularity throughout Greece and Asia Minor was largely due to him.