Feliza
A feminine name derived from the Spanish word "feliz" meaning "happy" or "blessed".
Name Census estimates that about 104 living Americans carry the first name Feliza. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Feliza today is around 42 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Feliza births was 1975 (9 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Feliza. 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
104
~ 1 in 3,295,715 Americans
Peak year
1975
9 babies that year
Average age
42
years old
2006 SSA rank
#15,764
Tracked since 1924
Census
Feliza in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 589 people with the first name Feliza, which placed it at #18,321 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
#18,321
National first-name rank
People counted
589
589 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
50.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Feliza
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Feliza is Hispanic at 50.8%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (38.9%) and Two or More Races (4.2%). 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 Feliza 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 Feliza at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino50.8% · 299
- Asian and Pacific Islander38.9% · 229
- Two or more races4.2% · 25
- White3.6% · 21
- Black or African American1.9% · 11
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.7% · 4
Popularity
Feliza: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Feliza from the 1920s through to the 2000s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 34 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1980s peak, Feliza remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Feliza 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 Feliza during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Felizas live
Origin
Meaning and history of Feliza
The name Feliza is of Spanish origin, derived from the Latin word "felix," meaning "happy" or "fortunate." It is a feminine form of the name Felix, which was commonly used in ancient Rome. The name gained popularity during the Middle Ages in Spain and other parts of Europe influenced by Spanish culture.
Feliza was a relatively common name among Spanish nobility and aristocracy, particularly during the 16th and 17th centuries. Historical records show that several women bearing this name held prominent positions in court or were associated with influential families. One notable example is Feliza de la Cerda, a Spanish noblewoman who lived in the 13th century and was a member of the powerful House of Lara.
In literature, the name Feliza appears in various works from the Golden Age of Spanish literature, such as plays by Lope de Vega and Miguel de Cervantes. This suggests that the name was well-known and used among the literate classes of the time.
Among the earliest recorded examples of the name Feliza is a woman mentioned in a 12th-century document from the Monastery of Santa María la Real de Nájera in La Rioja, Spain. This document refers to a woman named Feliza who donated land to the monastery.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Feliza. One example is Feliza Bursztyn (1826-1891), a Polish writer and activist who advocated for women's rights and education. Another is Feliza Ramón y Cajal (1873-1934), a Spanish painter and sister of the renowned scientist Santiago Ramón y Cajal.
In the realm of religion, Feliza Mirabal (1925-1960) was a Dominican activist and member of the Mirabal Sisters, who were brutally murdered for their opposition to the Trujillo dictatorship. She is venerated as a martyr and symbol of resistance against oppression.
Additionally, Feliza Ponce de León (1492-1532) was a Spanish conquistadora who accompanied her husband, Juan Ponce de León, on his explorations of Florida and Puerto Rico in the early 16th century.
While the name Feliza has its roots in Spanish and Latin traditions, it has been adopted and used in various cultures and languages over time, reflecting the diverse influences and connections among societies throughout history.
People
Feliza + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Feliza 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
Feliza: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Feliza?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 104 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Feliza 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 3,295,715 US residents.
Is Feliza a common name?
We classify Feliza as "Very Rare". It ranks above 65.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 128 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Feliza most popular?
The single biggest year for Feliza was 1975, when 9 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Feliza is about 42 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Feliza in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 589 people with the name Feliza, or 0.20 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #18,321 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 Feliza 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 Feliza?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Feliza appears almost entirely female. Of the 601 people counted with this name, 99.3% 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 Feliza?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Feliza is Hispanic at 50.8%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (38.9%) and Two or More Races (4.2%). 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 Feliza most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Feliza in the 2020 Census, accounting for 50.8% (299 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 Feliza in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Feliza a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Feliza 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 Feliza still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Feliza 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 Feliza 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 have Feliza as a first name?
If you just want to know how many people have the name Feliza, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.