girl's name
Felicia
fuh-LEE-shuh
- Origin Latin
- Gender Girl
- Syllables 3
- Letters 7
- Popularity Rare
- Births on record 98,507
Ireland
#834
2023 births
Felicia means lucky, and the Latin felix meant fertile before it meant fortunate — the word originally described soil and livestock that produced well, and good fortune was a later extension of it. It peaked in 1986, and holds 95,761 lifetime births.
- Felicia is a name of Latin origin.
- Peaked in 1986, when 3,095 babies were given the name.
- It has been falling over the past decade.
- Today about 1 in 150,716 babies in the United States is given this name.
- 3 syllables, with the stress on syllable 2.
Felicia over time
Births per decade in the United States, 1880s to 2020s. The striped bar is the 2020s, still in progress — it covers 2020 to 2025, not a full ten years.
Show the numbers
| Decade | Births |
|---|---|
| 1880s | 89 |
| 1890s | 131 |
| 1900s | 260 |
| 1910s | 925 |
| 1920s | 1,088 |
| 1930s | 870 |
| 1940s | 1,139 |
| 1950s | 3,902 |
| 1960s | 18,596 |
| 1970s | 22,433 |
| 1980s | 22,058 |
| 1990s | 15,664 |
| 2000s | 3,142 |
| 2010s | 888 |
| 2020s (to 2025) | 186 |
What Felicia means
Felicia means lucky, fortunate or happy. The Latin felix carries all three, having started from a sense of fruitfulness rather than from luck as we understand it.
Where Felicia comes from
Felicia is the feminine of the Latin Felix, whose root sense is fruitful or productive — the same element in fetus and female — with fortunate and happy as later extensions. Sulla styled himself Felix to claim the gods' favor, and Arabia Felix was the fertile south of the peninsula, named for its soil rather than its mood. Felicity, felicitous and the Spanish feliz all descend from it, and Felix is the rare Roman name that survived directly as a saint's name.
Felicia in use
Felicia peaked in the United States in 1986, when 3,095 babies were registered, and is falling in our data. It now ranks 1130th in France on 50 births — its strongest market — then 2579th in England and Wales on 11 and 5688th in the United States on 22, across 98,507 lifetime births in four of the seven markets we track.
How popular is Felicia?
In 2025, Felicia was given to 22 babies in the United States. It is a rare choice.
Where Felicia is used
US figures omit any name given to fewer than five babies in a year, so the rarest names are absent from the source rather than absent from use. Data & sources.
How Felicia is spelled
Birth registers count each spelling separately, so every one has its own ranking.
| Spelling | What it is | Births on record |
|---|---|---|
| Félicia | Félicia is Felicia written with an acute accent, used in France, where it ranks #1,130. | 705 |
Names that peaked alongside Felicia
These names rose and fell in the same era, which is why they tend to sound like they belong together.
Parents who like Felicia also like
Names whose popularity has risen and fallen in step with Felicia over the last century — the same taste, a different name.
1 nickname for Felicia
Each one is a name in its own right — the figure underneath is how it is doing today, so you can see which short forms are rising and which have faded.
Felicia in other languages
The same name as it is spelled elsewhere — not shortenings, and not different names that merely sound alike. Each one has its own record here.
Sibling names for Felicia
Names from the same era that won't rhyme or share an initial with Felicia — the two things that make a sibling set grate.
Common questions about Felicia
What does the name Felicia mean?
Lucky or fortunate — the Latin felix, whose root sense is fruitful.
Did felix originally mean fertile?
Yes. Arabia Felix was named for its soil, and fortunate is a later extension of that sense.
Is Felicity the same name?
The same root — felicitas, the abstract noun, rather than the personal name.
How popular is Felicia?
1130th in France, its strongest market, and 5688th in the United States.
Is Felicia a girl's or a boy's name?
Felicia is given almost entirely to girls in birth records.
How many syllables are in Felicia?
Felicia has 3 syllables.
What are the nicknames for Felicia?
Felicia is usually shortened to Lisha.
Is Felicia a good name?
That is not something records can settle, but they can tell you what you would be choosing. Felicia currently ranks #1,130 in the United States. It has been falling over the past decade. Everything else — how it sounds with your surname, who it reminds you of — is yours.