2000
#9,922
National surname rank
Recorded bearers 3,001
First available Census row
Per 100,000 1.11
Rare Last name
Felty
Derived from the German word "feldig," meaning a field or area of pastureland, likely referring to a person's residence.
According to the 2020 US Census Bureau surname tables, roughly 3,320 Americans carry the last name Felty. That puts it at #10,573 in the national surname ranking, appearing at a frequency of 0.97 per 100,000 people (about 1 in 103,239 residents).
This page is the full Name Census profile for the Felty surname. You will find the Census Bureau frequency data, a multi-census history view, an ancestry and ethnicity breakdown based on self-reported demographics, the name's meaning and origin where available, and answers to the most common questions people ask about this surname.
Bearers in the US
3.3K
1 in 103,239
Census rank
#10,573
2020 decennial data
Per 100,000
1.0
Frequency rate
Recorded bearers
2.9K
rare in the US
Popularity narrative
The Census Bureau recorded 2,895 bearers of the surname Felty in its 2020 decennial surname file. At a rate of 0.97 per 100,000 residents, it holds the 10573rd position in the national surname ranking.
Among Census respondents with the surname Felty, the largest self-reported group is White at 91.8%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (3.7%) and Hispanic (3.0%).
Origin
Meaning and origin of Felty
The surname Felty is believed to have originated in Germany. It is thought to be derived from the Old German word "felt," meaning "field" or "open land." This suggests that the name may have initially referred to someone who lived near or worked on an open field or pasture.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name can be found in the town records of Heidelberg, Germany, where a certain Hans Felty is mentioned in the year 1437. This indicates that the name was already well-established in the region by the 15th century.
In England, the earliest known bearer of the name was John Felty, who was born in the village of Stanstead Abbots, Hertfordshire, in 1562. His descendants can be traced through parish records and census documents in the subsequent centuries.
The Felty name also has a long history in the United States, where it was brought by German and English immigrants in the 17th and 18th centuries. One notable early American with this surname was Jacob Felty, a farmer and Revolutionary War veteran who was born in Pennsylvania in 1756.
Another significant figure was Samuel Felty, a 19th-century politician and lawyer from Ohio. He served as a member of the United States House of Representatives from 1847 to 1849 and was born in 1803.
In the literary world, one cannot overlook the contributions of Edwin Hubbell Chapin Felty, an American author and playwright who lived from 1866 to 1936. He is best known for his work "The Trapper's Bride," published in 1909.
The Felty name has also been associated with various places throughout history. For instance, the village of Felty in Alsace, France, was originally known as "Feltheim" in the 12th century, likely deriving its name from the same root as the surname.
Another notable individual was Johann Felty, a German composer and organist who was born in 1677 and made significant contributions to the development of Baroque music in his lifetime.
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Felty
Among Census respondents with the surname Felty, the largest self-reported group is White at 91.8%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (3.7%) and Hispanic (3.0%).
The bar chart below shows how Felty bearers 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 surname, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown for every Census year so the breakdown stays comparable over time. When the source file also includes raw headcounts, Name Census shows those alongside the percentages in the legend.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A person's surname does not determine their race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the Felty surname at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White91.8% · 2,657
- Two or more races3.7% · 108
- Hispanic or Latino3.0% · 86
- Black or African American0.7% · 20
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.6% · 18
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.2% · 6
Timeline
Historical Census data for Felty
Felty appears in 3 published Census surname files: 2000, 2010, 2020. The cards below show how the name's rank and bearer count changed across each release.
2010
#10,395
National surname rank
Recorded bearers 3,100
+99 bearers (+3.3%)
Per 100,000 1.05
Rank movement Down 473 places
2020
#10,573
National surname rank
Recorded bearers 2,895
-205 bearers (-6.6%)
Per 100,000 0.97
Rank movement Down 178 places
| Year | Rank | Count | Per 100K | Count change | Rank change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | #9,922 | 3,001 | 1.11 | First available Census row | First available Census row |
| 2010 | #10,395 | 3,100 | 1.05 | +99 bearers (+3.3%) | Down 473 places |
| 2020 | #10,573 | 2,895 | 0.97 | -205 bearers (-6.6%) | Down 178 places |
For 2020, the Census Bureau published race and Hispanic-origin columns as counts rather than percentages. Name Census converts those counts back into shares so the ancestry section stays comparable with the older surname files.
Year on year
2010 vs 2020 Census
How has the Felty surname changed between Census years? The chart shows bearer count side by side, and the table compares rank, count, and frequency.
Census year comparison
20102020
| Metric | 2010 | 2020 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rank | #10,395 | #10,573 | -1.7% |
| Count | 3,100 | 2,895 | -6.6% |
| Per 100K | 1.05 | 0.97 | -7.8% |
Between the 2010 and 2020 Census, the number of Felty bearers went from 3,100 to 2,895 (-6.6% change). The surname moved down 178 positions in the national ranking, going from #10,395 to #10,573.
FAQ
Felty surname: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. have the surname Felty?
Name Census estimates that about 3,320 living Americans carry the surname Felty. Using the current population baseline, that works out to roughly 1 in 103,239 residents.
How common is Felty?
Felty ranks #10,573 in the 2020 Census surname tables and is classified on this site as "Rare." The Census recorded the name at a frequency of 0.97 per 100,000 residents, which is about 1 people out of every 100,000.
How many people with this surname were counted in the Census?
The raw 2020 Census file counted 2,895 people with the surname Felty. That is different from the site's living-bearer estimate (3,320), which projects the surname's present-day count by applying the Census frequency rate to the current U.S. population.
What does 0.97 per 100,000 actually mean?
It is the Census Bureau's normalized frequency measure. A rate of 0.97 per 100,000 means that if you picked a random group of 100,000 U.S. residents, you would expect about 1 of them to have the surname Felty.
Has Felty become more or less common over time?
Between 2010 and 2020, the surname Felty went from 3,100 recorded bearers to 2,895. That is a decrease of 205 (-6.6%). In the national ranking it fell from #10,395 to #10,573.
What does the Census say about the background of Felty?
Among Census respondents with the surname Felty, the largest self-reported group is White at 91.8%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (3.7%) and Hispanic (3.0%). These figures come from the 2020 Census Bureau surname tables, based on how respondents described their own race and ethnicity.
Which group reports this surname most often?
White is the largest self-reported group for the surname Felty in the 2020 Census, accounting for 91.8% (2,657 people in the source table).
What is the full ancestry breakdown?
Felty appears across multiple self-reported groups in the Census data. The largest shares in the 2020 file are White (91.8%), Two or More Races (3.7%), Hispanic (3.0%). For 2020, the source file also published raw headcounts for each group, which is why this page can show both percentages and counts in the ancestry section.
Is this page using the latest Census data?
Yes. This page is using the latest surname file currently loaded on Name Census, which is 2020. The historical section above also keeps any older Census surname entries we have for Felty (2000, 2010, 2020).
Does the Census include every surname?
No. The Census Bureau only publishes surnames that appeared at least 100 times in a given decennial Census. That means very rare surnames are excluded entirely, and a surname can appear in one Census release but disappear from a later one if it falls below the reporting threshold.
Why don't the ancestry percentages always add up to exactly 100%?
There are two main reasons: rounding and suppression. The Census Bureau rounds published values, and it may suppress very small cells to protect privacy. For 2020, the Bureau also published raw group counts rather than direct percentages, so Name Census converts those counts back into shares for comparability across census years.
What does Felty mean?
Derived from the German word "feldig," meaning a field or area of pastureland, likely referring to a person's residence. The fuller origin note on this page goes into more detail.
Where does the surname data come from?
All surname statistics on Name Census are drawn from the US Census Bureau's decennial surname frequency tables. These files list every surname that appeared 100 or more times in the 2020 Census, along with a count, a per-100,000 rate, and a self-reported demographic breakdown. You can read the full explanation on our methodology page.
How does Name Census estimate living bearers?
For surnames, Name Census does not age cohorts the way it does for first names. Instead, it takes the Census Bureau's published frequency for Felty (0.97 per 100,000) and applies that rate to the current U.S. resident population to estimate how many living Americans have the surname today.
How many Americans have the surname Felty?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.