Felix

Boy · Latin

Felix

Say it: FEE-liks

Try it with your surname

Meaning

Latin felix, 'lucky, happy'.

Certainscholars agree on this meaning.

Joyful

Borne by many early saints and popes; very popular in Germany and Scandinavia in the 21st century.

Its wave through time

Timeless: in steady use for over a century

In the United States

05010018801900192019401960198020002020Peak 2020per 100,000 babies of that sex
  • 74,101 babies given this name since 1880
  • At its height in 2020, about 1 in 1,000 boys
  • 1,661 babies in 2020

Through the ages

  1. Ancient Rome750 BC to AD 476
  2. The Early Middle Ages400 to 800
  3. The High and Late Middle Ages1100 to 1450
  4. The Colonial Americas1500 to 1800
  5. Victorian and Belle Époque1837 to 1914
  6. The Modern Age1880 to today

Used by

Early ChristianLatinEnglishAmericanFrenchSpanishItalianPortugueseGermanPolishSwedishMexicanCentral AmericanAndeanArgentineCaribbeanBrazilian

The family of the name

FrenchFélix
SpanishFélix
ItalianFelice
PortugueseFélix
GermanFelix
PolishFeliks
RussianFeliks
HungarianFélix

Famous bearers

  • Felix of Nola, 3rd-century saint
  • Felix Mendelssohn, German composer
  • Pope Felix I

Names worth a look

Where this comes from

  • Lives of the saints and early Christian martyrologies
  • Calendars of saints and name days
  • National birth statistics of European countries source
  • Roman literature and history (Livy, Cicero, Tacitus and others)
  • Parish baptism registers
  • United States Social Security birth records, 1880 to today source

Meanings and histories are compiled from the study of names and their languages and checked by a second review.

Meanings and histories are drawn from the study of names and their languages, each with a confidence rating; popularity figures come from official birth records. Name histories are a living field: if you know of a correction, we would be glad to hear it.