Greek "brotherly love".

A correspondent [RB] has found over a hundred occurrences of this name in the 19^th century Parish Records of Shetland, Scotland. Philadelphia had been used by the Laird for his daughter and it is thought that many of the local people followed suit. No earlier occurrence has been notified and there are no references to it in our sources.

One ancestor with this name was also known by the pet name of Phyllis. It is not known if this was a common use.