Fenix
A name meaning "phoenix", the mythological bird reborn from its own ashes.
Name Census estimates that about 1,325 living Americans carry the first name Fenix. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 78.5% of registrations being male. The average person named Fenix today is around 10 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Fenix births was 2023 (98 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Fenix. 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 Fenix with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Fenix is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 10 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
1.3K
~ 1 in 258,683 Americans
Peak year
2023
98 babies that year
Average age
10
years old
2024 SSA rank
#2,042
Tracked since 2000
Census
Fenix in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 885 people with the first name Fenix, which placed it at #13,587 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
#13,587
National first-name rank
People counted
885
885 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
42.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Fenix
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Fenix is White at 42.4%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (36.4%) and Black (7.9%). 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 Fenix 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 Fenix at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White42.4% · 375
- Hispanic or Latino36.4% · 322
- Black or African American7.9% · 70
- Two or more races6.8% · 60
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.8% · 34
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.7% · 24
Gender
Gender distribution for Fenix
Fenix is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 1,336 total registrations, 1,049 (78.5%) were male and 287 (21.5%) were female.
Fenix as a male name
- Ranked #2,042 in 2024
- 74 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2022 (76 births)
Fenix as a female name
- Ranked #6,712 in 2024
- 17 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2017 (24 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Fenix on both sides of the split. Of the 884 people counted with this name, 657 were male (74.3%) and 227 were female (25.7%).
Popularity
Fenix: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Fenix from the 2000s through to the 2020s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 626 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Fenix remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Fenix 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 Fenix during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Fenix' live
The SSA's state-level files cover 7 states and territories. California, Texas, Florida recorded the most babies named Fenix, while Tennessee, Indiana, North Carolina recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 41 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Fenix
The name Fenix is derived from the Greek word "phoinix," which means "phoenix," a mythological bird associated with renewal and rebirth. It has its roots in ancient Greek mythology and symbolism, dating back to the 5th century BC.
The phoenix was a legendary bird believed to cyclically regenerate or be reborn from its own ashes. This powerful imagery of resurrection and immortality made the phoenix a popular symbol in various ancient civilizations, including the Greeks, Romans, Egyptians, and Phoenicians.
One of the earliest recorded mentions of the phoenix can be found in the works of the ancient Greek poet Hesiod, who lived around the 7th century BC. The phoenix was also referenced in the writings of Herodotus, the famous Greek historian from the 5th century BC.
In Roman mythology, the phoenix was associated with the sun god Apollo and was believed to live for several centuries before burning itself on a pyre, only to rise again from its ashes. This legendary creature was often depicted in art and literature, representing the cyclical nature of life and the concept of eternal renewal.
Throughout history, the name Fenix has been borne by several notable individuals, including:
1. Fenix (4th century BC), a Greek philosopher and mathematician from Rhodes, known for his contributions to the study of geometry and mechanics.
2. Fenix of Tyre (1st century AD), a Phoenician philosopher and writer who lived during the Roman Empire's reign. He is known for his work on the history of the Phoenician people.
3. Fenix de Murviedro (13th century AD), a Spanish poet and troubadour from Valencia, renowned for his lyrical compositions and contributions to the development of the Valencian literary tradition.
4. Fenix Ramón de Palma (1811-1892), a Spanish writer, journalist, and playwright from Valencia, known for his satirical works and plays that addressed social and political issues of his time.
5. Fenix Cavalcanti (1923-1988), a Brazilian artist and painter known for his abstract expressionist works, which often incorporated elements of Brazilian culture and folklore.
While the name Fenix is not as common as some other names, it has maintained a presence throughout history, carrying the symbolic weight of renewal, resilience, and the cyclical nature of life, as embodied by the legendary phoenix.
People
Fenix + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Fenix 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
Fenix: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Fenix?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,325 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Fenix 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 258,683 US residents.
Is Fenix a common name?
We classify Fenix as "Rare". It ranks above 91.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,336 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Fenix most popular?
The single biggest year for Fenix was 2023, when 98 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Fenix is about 10 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Fenix in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 885 people with the name Fenix, or 0.29 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #13,587 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 Fenix 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 Fenix?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Fenix on both sides of the split. Of the 884 people counted with this name, 657 were male (74.3%) and 227 were female (25.7%). 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 Fenix?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Fenix is White at 42.4%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (36.4%) and Black (7.9%). 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 Fenix most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Fenix in the 2020 Census, accounting for 42.4% (375 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 Fenix in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Fenix a male name?
Yes, 78.5% of people registered as Fenix in the SSA data are male. 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 Fenix still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Fenix 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 Fenix 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 called Fenix?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.