Felita
A feminine variant of the Latin name Felicia, meaning "lucky" or "happy".
Name Census estimates that about 659 living Americans carry the first name Felita. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Felita today is around 58 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Felita births was 1968 (53 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Felita. 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
659
~ 1 in 520,113 Americans
Peak year
1968
53 babies that year
Average age
58
years old
1993 SSA rank
#14,216
Tracked since 1954
Census
Felita in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 729 people with the first name Felita, which placed it at #15,699 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
#15,699
National first-name rank
People counted
729
729 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
74.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Felita
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Felita is Black at 74.2%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (8.4%) and Hispanic (7.7%). 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 Felita 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 Felita at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American74.2% · 541
- Asian and Pacific Islander8.4% · 61
- Hispanic or Latino7.7% · 56
- White7.3% · 53
- Two or more races1.6% · 12
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.8% · 6
Popularity
Felita: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Felita from the 1950s through to the 1990s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 388 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1960s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Felita 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 Felita during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Felitas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 7 states and territories. Georgia, Texas, New York recorded the most babies named Felita, while North Carolina, Florida, Mississippi recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 14 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Felita
The name Felita is of Spanish origin, derived from the Latin word "felicitas," meaning "happiness" or "good fortune." It first emerged during the Middle Ages in regions of Spain and Portugal, where it was given to girls as a expression of hope for a joyful and prosperous life.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Felita can be found in the 12th century, in a Spanish manuscript detailing the lives of various saints and religious figures. Here, the name is mentioned in reference to a young woman named Felita, who was renowned for her acts of charity and compassion towards the poor.
During the Renaissance period, the name gained further popularity across the Iberian Peninsula and was occasionally bestowed upon women from noble families. One notable figure bearing this name was Felita de Vilhena, a Portuguese noblewoman who lived in the 16th century and was known for her patronage of the arts and her support for various cultural initiatives.
As Spanish and Portuguese explorers and settlers ventured to the Americas, the name Felita was carried with them to the New World, where it was adopted by families of Spanish and Portuguese descent. One such individual was Felita Alonso, a Spanish-born woman who traveled to Mexico in the early 17th century and later became a prominent figure in the development of the city of Puebla.
In the 19th century, the name Felita was also found in literary works, including the novel "La Gitanilla" by Miguel de Cervantes, where it is given to a character described as a beautiful and spirited young gypsy woman.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Felita, including:
1. Felita de la Vega (1905-1994), a Mexican actress and singer who appeared in numerous films and television shows during the Golden Age of Mexican cinema.
2. Felita Muniz (1915-2020), a Cuban-American centenarian and one of the longest-lived people in the United States, passing away at the age of 105.
3. Felita Sampedro (1925-2013), a Spanish novelist and screenwriter known for her works exploring themes of love, passion, and social issues.
4. Felita Alfaro (1940-2022), a renowned Venezuelan artist and sculptor whose works were exhibited in galleries across Latin America and Europe.
5. Felita Arellano (1952-present), a Mexican-American entrepreneur and businesswoman, recognized for her successful chain of restaurants and her contributions to the culinary industry.
People
Felita + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Felita 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
Felita: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Felita?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 659 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Felita 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 520,113 US residents.
Is Felita a common name?
We classify Felita as "Very Rare". It ranks above 87.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 783 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Felita most popular?
The single biggest year for Felita was 1968, when 53 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Felita is about 58 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Felita in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 729 people with the name Felita, or 0.24 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #15,699 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 Felita 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 Felita?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Felita appears almost entirely female. Of the 728 people counted with this name, 99.7% 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 Felita?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Felita is Black at 74.2%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (8.4%) and Hispanic (7.7%). 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 Felita most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Felita in the 2020 Census, accounting for 74.2% (541 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 Felita in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Felita a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Felita 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 Felita still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Felita 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 Felita 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 the name Felita?
For a quick modern take, check how many people have the name Felita on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org.