Feige
A German name derived from the word "feige" meaning "fig".
Name Census estimates that about 169 living Americans carry the first name Feige. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Feige today is around 41 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Feige births was 1976 (12 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Feige. 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.
People living today
169
~ 1 in 2,028,132 Americans
Peak year
1976
12 babies that year
Average age
41
years old
2015 SSA rank
#17,330
Tracked since 1951
Popularity
Feige: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Feige from the 1950s through to the 2010s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 46 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1980s peak, Feige remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Feige 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 Feige during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Feiges live
Origin
Meaning and history of Feige
The name Feige is of German origin, derived from the Middle High German word "vīge," which means "fig." This name likely originated during the Middle Ages, when many German names were inspired by nature, particularly plants and fruits.
In medieval Germany, the fig tree was a symbol of fertility and abundance, and the name Feige may have been given to children as a wish for a prosperous and fruitful life. The name was also sometimes used as a nickname for someone who lived near a fig tree or worked with figs.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Feige can be found in the Codex Diplomaticus Saxoniae Regiae, a collection of medieval documents from Saxony, dating back to the 13th century. In this text, a man named "Feige de Liptzk" is mentioned as a witness in a legal document from 1286.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Feige. One of the most famous was Feige Jacobsohn (1755-1828), a German Jewish educator and writer who established one of the first modern Jewish schools in Berlin. She was a pioneer in advocating for the education of Jewish girls and played a significant role in the Haskalah, the Jewish Enlightenment movement.
Another prominent figure was Johann Gottlieb Feige (1707-1765), a German painter and engraver known for his religious and mythological works. He was a member of the prestigious Prussian Academy of Arts and his paintings can be found in several German museums.
In the 19th century, Feige Auerbach (1836-1909) was a German-American businesswoman and philanthropist. She co-founded the B. Auerbach & Son department store in Salt Lake City, Utah, and was actively involved in various charitable organizations.
Feige Baumgart (1837-1904) was a German novelist and playwright who wrote under the pen name "Hans Grasberger." Her works, which often explored social issues and the lives of rural communities, were popular in her time and contributed to the development of German realism in literature.
Lastly, Feige Lehmann (1883-1964) was a German-Jewish actress and singer who performed in several Yiddish theaters and cabarets in Berlin during the early 20th century. She was forced to flee Nazi Germany in 1933 and eventually settled in New York City, where she continued her acting career.
People
Feige + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Feige 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
Feige: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Feige?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 169 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Feige 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 2,028,132 US residents.
Is Feige a common name?
We classify Feige as "Very Rare". It ranks above 72% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 186 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Feige most popular?
The single biggest year for Feige was 1976, when 12 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Feige is about 41 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Feige a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Feige 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.
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.