Faigy
A Yiddish feminine name derived from the Hebrew word "Feiga" meaning "beautiful bird".
Name Census estimates that about 3,415 living Americans carry the first name Faigy. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Faigy today is around 17 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Faigy births was 2022 (171 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Faigy. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Faigy with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Faigy is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 17 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
3.4K
~ 1 in 100,367 Americans
Peak year
2022
171 babies that year
Average age
17
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,558
Tracked since 1958
Census
Faigy in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 2,398 people with the first name Faigy, which placed it at #6,634 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#6,634
National first-name rank
People counted
2.4K
2,398 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.8
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
99.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Faigy
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Faigy is White at 99.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (0.5%) and Two or More Races (0.1%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Faigy described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Faigy at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White99.3% · 2,381
- Hispanic or Latino0.5% · 12
- Two or more races0.1% · 3
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.1% · 2
Popularity
Faigy: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Faigy from the 1950s through to the 2020s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 1,142 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Faigy remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Faigy by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Faigy during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Faigys live
Origin
Meaning and history of Faigy
The name Faigy is a Yiddish diminutive form of the Hebrew name Feiga, which is derived from the German name Vögelchen, meaning "little bird". It is a relatively modern name, first appearing in the late 19th century among Jewish communities in Eastern Europe.
The earliest recorded use of the name Faigy can be traced back to the late 1800s in the Russian Empire, where it was a popular name among Ashkenazi Jewish families. The name likely gained popularity due to its connection to the German language, which was widely spoken by Jews in Central and Eastern Europe at the time.
While there are no known historical references to the name Faigy in ancient texts or religious scriptures, it is believed to have been inspired by the Hebrew tradition of giving children names that reflect their parents' hopes and aspirations for them. The association with a small bird may have symbolized a desire for the child to be free, joyful, and connected to nature.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Faigy was Faigy Schwartz, a Jewish woman born in 1875 in the town of Berdichev, then part of the Russian Empire (now in Ukraine). She was known for her work in promoting education and social welfare within the Jewish community.
Another notable figure with the name Faigy was Faigy Fryman (1900-1986), a Yiddish author and playwright who was born in Poland and later immigrated to the United States. Her works, which often explored themes of Jewish identity and cultural preservation, were widely acclaimed in the Yiddish literary world.
In the early 20th century, Faigy Lipsha (1908-1997) was a prominent activist and organizer within the Jewish labor movement in Poland. She played a key role in advocating for workers' rights and improving working conditions in factories and workshops.
Faigy Bisno (1920-2005), born in Romania, was a Holocaust survivor and author who wrote extensively about her experiences during World War II. Her memoirs, which detailed her time in concentration camps and the loss of her family, became important historical accounts of the Holocaust.
Faigy Mayer (1922-2008), born in Hungary, was a renowned Hasidic rabbi and scholar. She was known for her profound knowledge of Jewish law and her teachings, which influenced many within the Hasidic community.
These are just a few examples of notable individuals who have carried the name Faigy throughout history, reflecting its rich cultural and linguistic heritage within the Jewish community.
People
Faigy + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Faigy as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with F
Other first names starting with F with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Faigy: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Faigy?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 3,415 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Faigy going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 100,367 US residents.
Is Faigy a common name?
We classify Faigy as "Rare". It ranks above 95.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 3,477 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Faigy most popular?
The single biggest year for Faigy was 2022, when 171 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Faigy is about 17 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Faigy in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 2,398 people with the name Faigy, or 0.79 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #6,634 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Faigy in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Faigy?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Faigy appears almost entirely female. Of the 2,405 people counted with this name, 99.7% were female and only a very small share were male. The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Faigy?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Faigy is White at 99.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (0.5%) and Two or More Races (0.1%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Faigy most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Faigy in the 2020 Census, accounting for 99.3% (2,381 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Faigy in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Faigy a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Faigy in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Faigy still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Faigy in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Faigy can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many Americans are named Faigy?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.