Felicity
A feminine name of Latin origin meaning "good luck" or "happiness".
Name Census estimates that about 17,570 living Americans carry the first name Felicity. It sits at #486 in the overall ranking, outside the top 50 but still well-represented. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Felicity today is around 16 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Felicity births was 2017 (938 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Felicity. 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 Felicity with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Felicity is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 16 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
18K
~ 1 in 19,508 Americans
Peak year
2017
938 babies that year
Average age
16
years old
2004 SSA rank
#486
Tracked since 1935
Census
Felicity in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 13,416 people with the first name Felicity, which placed it at #2,032 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
#2,032
National first-name rank
People counted
13K
13,416 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
4.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
65.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Felicity
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Felicity is White at 65.7%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (16.9%) and Two or More Races (7.1%). 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 Felicity 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 Felicity at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White65.7% · 8,818
- Hispanic or Latino16.9% · 2,271
- Two or more races7.1% · 950
- Black or African American5.9% · 791
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.5% · 472
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.8% · 114
Gender
Gender distribution for Felicity
Out of the 17,905 babies given the name Felicity since 1880, 100.0% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Felicity as a male name
- Ranked #10,391 in 2004
- 6 male births in 2004
- Peak: 2004 (6 births)
Felicity as a female name
- Ranked #486 in 2024
- 628 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2017 (938 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Felicity appears almost entirely female. Of the 13,421 people counted with this name, 99.9% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Felicity: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Felicity from the 1930s through to the 2020s, spanning 10 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 6,886 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Felicity remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Felicity 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 Felicity during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Felicitys live
The SSA's state-level files cover 50 states and territories. California, Texas, Florida recorded the most babies named Felicity, while Hawaii, Wyoming, District of Columbia recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 310 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Felicity
The name Felicity is derived from the Latin word "felicitas" meaning "happiness" or "bliss". It traces its roots back to ancient Rome, where the word was used to describe a state of good fortune and prosperity.
During the Roman era, Felicitas was personified as a goddess, often depicted with symbols of abundance, such as a cornucopia or a caduceus. She was revered as the bringer of joy and contentment, and her name became a popular choice for newborn daughters.
In the Middle Ages, the name Felicity gained popularity among Christian families, as it was associated with the virtue of joy and the pursuit of spiritual happiness. It was often given to children born on religious feast days or during times of celebration.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Felicity can be found in the writings of St. Augustine, the renowned Christian philosopher and theologian (354-430 AD). He mentioned a woman named Felicitas, a Christian martyr who was executed in Rome during the persecution of Christians in the 2nd century.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Felicity. Felicity Kendal (born 1946) is a renowned British actress, known for her roles in the television series "The Good Life" and "Rosemary & Thyme". Felicity Lott (born 1947) is an acclaimed English opera singer who has performed in major opera houses around the world.
In the literary world, Felicity Healey (1923-2010) was a British writer and children's author, best known for her novel "The Remittance Kid". Felicity Aston (born 1973) is a British explorer and the first woman to ski across Antarctica alone.
Another notable bearer of the name is Felicity Jones (born 1983), the British actress known for her roles in films such as "The Theory of Everything" and "Rogue One: A Star Wars Story".
These are just a few examples of the many individuals throughout history who have carried the name Felicity, a name that symbolizes joy, happiness, and good fortune.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Felicity
People
Felicity + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Felicity 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
Felicity: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Felicity?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 17,570 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Felicity 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 19,508 US residents.
Is Felicity a common name?
We classify Felicity as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 17,905 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Felicity most popular?
The single biggest year for Felicity was 2017, when 938 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Felicity is about 16 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Felicity in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 13,416 people with the name Felicity, or 4.44 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #2,032 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 Felicity 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 Felicity?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Felicity appears almost entirely female. Of the 13,421 people counted with this name, 99.9% 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 Felicity?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Felicity is White at 65.7%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (16.9%) and Two or More Races (7.1%). 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 Felicity most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Felicity in the 2020 Census, accounting for 65.7% (8,818 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 Felicity in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Felicity a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Felicity 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 Felicity still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Felicity 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 Felicity 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 Felicity as a first name?
Find out how many people share the name Felicity on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.