Felica
A feminine name derived from the Latin word "felix", meaning "happy" or "prosperous".
Name Census estimates that about 1,886 living Americans carry the first name Felica. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Felica today is around 48 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Felica births was 1975 (96 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Felica. 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
1.9K
~ 1 in 181,736 Americans
Peak year
1975
96 babies that year
Average age
48
years old
2003 SSA rank
#8,684
Tracked since 1953
Census
Felica in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,394 people with the first name Felica, which placed it at #9,810 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
#9,810
National first-name rank
People counted
1.4K
1,394 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
48.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Felica
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Felica is Black at 48.6%. The next largest groups are White (33.4%) and Hispanic (12.2%). 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 Felica 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 Felica at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American48.6% · 678
- White33.4% · 465
- Hispanic or Latino12.2% · 170
- Two or more races3.2% · 44
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.4% · 19
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.3% · 18
Popularity
Felica: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Felica from the 1950s through to the 2000s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 710 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1970s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Felica 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 Felica during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Felicas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 16 states and territories. Texas, Georgia, Illinois recorded the most babies named Felica, while New Jersey, South Carolina, Louisiana recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 35 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Felica
The name Felica has its roots in the Latin language, originating from the Latin word "felix," which means "happy" or "fortunate." This name has been in use for centuries, dating back to ancient Roman times.
In ancient Rome, the name Felica was often given to baby girls as a way to bestow upon them a life filled with happiness and good fortune. It was a popular name among the Roman aristocracy and was even borne by several notable figures throughout history.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Felica can be found in the writings of the Roman historian Livy, who mentioned a woman by this name in his work "Ab Urbe Condita" (From the Founding of the City), written around 27 BC. Another early reference to the name is found in the Martyrologium Hieronymianum, an ancient Roman martyrology compiled in the 5th century AD, which lists several Christian martyrs named Felica.
Throughout the Middle Ages and Renaissance periods, the name Felica continued to be used, although its popularity waxed and waned across different regions of Europe. One notable bearer of the name was Felica of Milan (1284-1340), an Italian mystic and member of the Third Order of St. Francis who was known for her visions and spiritual writings.
In the 16th century, Felica Rasponi (1515-1583) was an Italian noblewoman and patron of the arts, known for her patronage of the painter Guido Reni. Another figure from this era was Felica Michiel (1555-1605), a Venetian noblewoman and writer who was part of the literary circle around the poet Torquato Tasso.
Moving forward to the 17th century, Felica Tarnowska (1605-1668) was a Polish noblewoman and philanthropist who founded several hospitals and orphanages in her homeland. In the 18th century, Felica Dorothea Lejeune (1775-1847) was a German writer and translator who published several works of poetry and fiction.
As the name Felica continued to be used across various cultures and time periods, its meaning and associations with happiness and good fortune remained a constant thread throughout its history.
People
Felica + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Felica 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
Felica: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Felica?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,886 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Felica 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 181,736 US residents.
Is Felica a common name?
We classify Felica as "Rare". It ranks above 93.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,087 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Felica most popular?
The single biggest year for Felica was 1975, when 96 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Felica is about 48 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Felica in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,394 people with the name Felica, or 0.46 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #9,810 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 Felica 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 Felica?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Felica appears almost entirely female. Of the 1,393 people counted with this name, 99.6% 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 Felica?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Felica is Black at 48.6%. The next largest groups are White (33.4%) and Hispanic (12.2%). 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 Felica most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Felica in the 2020 Census, accounting for 48.6% (678 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 Felica in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Felica a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Felica 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 Felica still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Felica 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 Felica 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 people are named Felica?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.