For Phillips, I would compare 菲 Fěi with 费／費 Fèi before looking further afield. 菲 is the opening of established transcriptions, including 菲利浦斯 in Taiwan’s National Academy for Educational Research name table and 菲利普斯 in its entry for the physicist William Daniel Phillips. It deserves a serious look even though it is an uncommon surname. My practical starting recommendation is 费 Fèi if you want a surname with a clear modern dictionary entry; choose 菲 if keeping the original transcription character matters more and you are comfortable explaining its surname reading. NAER name tables, printed pages 13 and 110.
These are choices for a new Chinese name. Neither is the complete Chinese translation of Phillips, and neither implies a connection to a Chinese family with the same surname.
Keep the distinction between a transcription and a surname
A full form such as 菲利普斯 represents the whole foreign surname. It can be useful in an author credit, a conference programme or a bilingual introduction where people need to recognise Phillips. A one-character surname followed by a separately chosen Chinese given name serves a different purpose. Do not automatically split the transcription into “surname 菲, given name 利普斯”.
The usual English pronunciation is /ˈfɪlɪps/, with stress on the first syllable and a final /ps/ cluster. Collins gives this pronunciation in both its British and American entries. Mandarin Fěi or Fèi keeps the initial /f/ but changes the vowel into a diphthong and removes the remainder of the surname. The Chinese tones are also new: they do not reproduce English stress. Collins pronunciation.
菲 is a real surname, but check the tone
Two different checks matter here. Taiwan’s Ministry of the Interior lists 菲 as an independent surname in its 2023 name statistics. That establishes actual surname use in that register. A surname-dictionary entry reproduced by Guoxuemi gives the surname reading Fěi, with the third tone. The latter is a secondary transcription of lexicographic material; I have not inspected the cited printed dictionary itself. Official surname report, page 53, surname-specific reading.
That evidence is enough to avoid the false claim that 菲 cannot be a surname. It is not enough to treat the familiar first-tone fēi in foreign-name transcriptions as the automatically correct reading for every family named 菲. The register contains no pronunciation field. An existing family’s own pronunciation would take priority; for a newly selected name, write down the reading you intend and discuss it with a knowledgeable Mandarin speaker.
菲 keeps the visible link to 菲利普斯 particularly well. It is unchanged between simplified and traditional writing. Its cost is the extra explanation: someone may recognise it as a transcription character or part of a given name before thinking of a surname. That is a practical consideration, not a measured recognition rate and not a reason to erase the candidate.
费 Fèi offers a well-documented alternative
The Ministry of Education’s concise dictionary explicitly records 費, fèi, as a surname. The simplified form is 费. This verifies the family-name use independently of any attempt to approximate Phillips. 費 dictionary entry.
费 does not preserve the exact first character of 菲利普斯. It gives you the same basic Mandarin “fei” syllable with a falling fourth tone, so its advantage is the clearer surname-reading evidence rather than a claim to reproduce English /fɪ/ perfectly. The dictionary also records ordinary senses connected with expense. Those meanings help identify the character; they do not describe the person who bears it.
For an introduction, 我姓费，费用的费 identifies the written character. If that everyday word feels distracting to you, show the character instead. Try 费 and 菲 before the same proposed given name, so that the comparison changes only the surname. A pleasing character in isolation can sound quite different in a full name.
What the history of Phillips can contribute
The surname dictionary identifies Phillips as a patronymic formed from the personal name Philip. That explains the relationship between the names without proving a single founding family. Philip belongs to the Greek Phílippos name family, associated with loving horses; Porto Editora gives that explanation for its Portuguese cognate Filipe. This is the background of the personal name, rather than evidence that every Phillips ancestor worked with horses. DAFN surname entry, Porto Editora name entry.
If that particular image matters to you, 马／馬 Mǎ is a defensible meaning-led alternative. The Ministry’s dictionary independently confirms mǎ as a surname as well as the word for a horse. Choosing 马 deliberately gives up the sound of Phillips and the patronymic relationship; it retains only the horse motif. 馬 entry.
There is also a specific literary route, if you want one. Han Yu’s 《马说》, Discourse on Horses, uses the treatment of exceptional horses to examine the recognition and neglect of ability. An educational publisher’s text provides the actual essay. You might choose 马 for a personal interest in recognising potential, while being clear that this is your chosen association, not the origin of either surname. There is no need to adopt a supposed descendant’s surname or invent a genealogical link. Text of the essay.
Make the decision in the order that matters to you
Use 费 Fèi as the first trial if clear surname pronunciation and a compact everyday name are your priorities. Keep 菲 Fěi beside it if continuity with the established transcription matters most, with the reading limitation explained above. Consider 马 Mǎ only if the horse association genuinely appeals to you. It is not an extra option that everyone needs.
Say the full proposed name aloud, ask a Mandarin speaker to read it without seeing the pinyin, and check what they write after hearing it. Keep Phillips visible beside your Chinese name in bilingual professional contexts when recognition matters. For documents requiring your registered identity, follow the document’s instructions rather than assuming a chosen Chinese name can replace it.
What this series rank actually means
The recorded source places Phillips at website ordinal 48 for Great Britain, covering England, Scotland and Wales and excluding Northern Ireland. British Surnames does not provide a count on the ranking page. Its modern ranking’s reference period, underlying counting unit and method remain unverified. The ordinal is therefore a reported private-site position, not an official current population rank. Its separately discussed 1881 census data do not date this modern list. Ranking, scope.
The recorded US row is a different observation: PHILLIPS ranks 53 with 343,656 in the 2020 Census surname table released in 2026, after disclosure-avoidance processing. That count must not be imported into the British paragraph. The two statistical records concern different countries and must be interpreted separately. US Census source.
Research and methodology notes
Sources used in this comparison: NAER name tables, printed pages 13 and 110; Official surname report, page 53; 費 dictionary entry; 馬 entry; DAFN surname entry. Read each source within the limits of the passage where it is cited. A documented transcription, surname use and surname pronunciation are separate questions.
The comparison is framed by “Keep the distinction between a transcription and a surname” and “What the history of Phillips can contribute”. Sound resemblance, word meaning and a cultural association are different reasons for choosing a name; only the routes argued in this article are proposed, without inferring personal ancestry.
Statistical scope: Great Britain website position; year and counting method unverified; 2020 US Census published surname frequencies, released in 2026; not current residents.
