Phileine

The use of Phileine as a feminine first name in The Netherlands is due to the 2003 film "Phileine Zegt Sorry" (English: "Phileine Says Sorry"). The film is based on a book written by Dutch author Ronald Giphart (b. 1965), which carries the same title and was published in 1996. Phileine is the first name of the book's main character, and the author derived the name from the Dutch adjective vilein, which means "mean, evil" in English and is etymologically related to the English noun villain. This is both fitting and deliberate, as it points to the unlikability of the main character.

The name Phileine first started to get used in 2004, which is the year immediately following the release year of the book's film adaptation. The name was not in use before that, despite the book having been released in 1996 already. It was the film that finally popularised the name. According to the first names database of the Meertens Institute, the name was at its most popular in 2009, in which year 59 girls were given this name. However, according to the popularity statistics on this website, Phileine was at its most popular in 2011, i.e. more popular in 2011 than it was in 2009 (while the Meertens Institute states the reverse).

It is easy to mistake the name Phileine as being a variant of Philine, which is derived from the Greek verb philein "to love". However, this is not the case, as Phileine as a first name in The Netherlands is completely inspired by the film (and thus indirectly, the book). And since the author derived it from Dutch vilein (as I explained before), that is really the only correct meaning for Phileine.