Head to head · Boys' names
Antonio vs Felix
#176 vs #175 in 2025
Felix is a whisker ahead (#175 vs #176 in 2025), but the curves point different ways: Felix is back after a long quiet spell, Antonio is holding its place on the charts.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
The tale of the tape
On the charts, Felix leads 3 measures of 6; Antonio leads 2.
Ranks, counts and years are measured in the official US birth record; the classroom and living figures are estimates computed from it. The dot marks the side each measure favours on the charts — more common, not better.
What the records say
146 years of US births, drawn on one scale
Two curves, one scale
Who owned which decade
- 1880s: Antonio #302, Felix #156 — Felix higher
- 1890s: Antonio #309, Felix #168 — Felix higher
- 1900s: Antonio #209, Felix #175 — Felix higher
- 1910s: Antonio #203, Felix #181 — Felix higher
- 1920s: Antonio #194, Felix #222 — Antonio higher
- 1930s: Antonio #231, Felix #265 — Antonio higher
- 1940s: Antonio #245, Felix #301 — Antonio higher
- 1950s: Antonio #208, Felix #303 — Antonio higher
- 1960s: Antonio #162, Felix #322 — Antonio higher
- 1970s: Antonio #88, Felix #327 — Antonio higher
- 1980s: Antonio #75, Felix #358 — Antonio higher
- 1990s: Antonio #82, Felix #378 — Antonio higher
- 2000s: Antonio #93, Felix #376 — Antonio higher
- 2010s: Antonio #141, Felix #273 — Antonio higher
- 2020s: Antonio #178, Felix #193 — Antonio higher
Antonio stood higher in 11 of 15 decades; Antonio has held the lead since the 1920s.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Antonio | Felix |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | #302 | #156 |
| 1890s | #309 | #168 |
| 1900s | #209 | #175 |
| 1910s | #203 | #181 |
| 1920s | #194 | #222 |
| 1930s | #231 | #265 |
| 1940s | #245 | #301 |
| 1950s | #208 | #303 |
| 1960s | #162 | #322 |
| 1970s | #88 | #327 |
| 1980s | #75 | #358 |
| 1990s | #82 | #378 |
| 2000s | #93 | #376 |
| 2010s | #141 | #273 |
| 2020s | #178 | #193 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
Around the world
Antonio
Not charting outside the US.
Felix
- Canada#29
- England & Wales#62
National statistics offices, latest published year.
The names themselves
Meaning, roots, sound and the people who carried each
Where each name comes from
Antonio
Not established
The Roman family name at the root has no established meaning and is generally thought to be Etruscan, which puts it beyond the reach of the usual tools. The flower gloss frequently offered is a Renaissance invention.
Antonius → Antonio
How it traveled
One of the composers who carried it wrote several hundred concertos, ran a music school for orphaned girls in Venice for most of his working life, was ordained a priest and stopped saying mass within a year, and died in Vienna owing money and was buried in a hospital ground with no marker. His music went out of print and stayed out for two centuries.
Felix
lucky, fortunate, happy
From the Latin adjective felix, which covered both 'lucky' and 'fruitful' — it was used of fertile soil as well as of successful men.
felix (Latin: lucky, fruitful) → Felix (Roman cognomen) → Felix (name of early saints and popes) → Felix
How it traveled
Felix began as a Latin adjective and became a Roman cognomen, an added name that advertised a man's good fortune. Christianity carried it forward: it belongs to a long line of early martyrs and to several popes of the first millennium, and it appears in the New Testament as the name of the Roman governor before whom Paul was tried.
Where a reading is contested the note says so — this page does not turn a guess into a fact. The chain is each name's recorded forms, oldest first; the story is its opening, told in full on the name's own page.
Out loud, and in short
Antonio
an-TOH-nee-oh
Four syllables with the stress on the second. Spanish and Italian agree on the placement, which makes the name unusually stable across languages.
- Tony — The dominant short form in English and completely established.
- Toño — The standard Spanish affectionate form; warm and used well into adulthood.
- Nino — The Italian affectionate form; light and rather different in register.
Felix
FEE-liks
Stress on the first syllable in English. Spanish and French put an accent on the é and shift the emphasis — FAY-leeks, fay-LEEKS — but American speakers reliably land on FEE-liks without being told.
- Fee — Informal home shortening; also used for Fiona and Felicity, so it is not exclusive to this name.
- Lix — Informal, mostly among peers rather than family.
- Feli — Common informal short form in German-speaking families.
- Flick — Occasional playful shortening; rarer than the others.
Who has carried each name
Antonio
Antonio Vivaldi (b. 1678) — Composed The Four Seasons
Antonio Salieri (b. 1750) — Composer remembered as Mozart's great rival
Felix
Felix Mendelssohn (b. 1809) — Composed the Wedding March
Felix Baumgartner (b. 1969) — Broke the sound barrier skydiving from the stratosphere
Source: Wikidata — the one source on this page that is not an official agency.
Is it right for you
The differences that decide it, laid out by what you want
Choose by what you want
Choose Antonio if you want…
- a name holding steadyAntonio is holding its place on the charts
- a name with more sound in itAntonio runs 4 syllables, Felix 2
Choose Felix if you want…
- a name on the way upup 50 places on the charts in five years
- a name with fewer syllablesFelix is 2 syllables to Antonio's 4
- a name that charts abroad tooFelix is on the national lists of Canada and England & Wales
Each line is a measured difference between the two names — a rank, a count, a recorded form — never a judgement of either. Save the one that answers your question; it lands on your shortlist.
The trade-offs, name by name
Antonio
Strengths
- It is recognized instantly across southern Europe and the Americas.
- It has established short forms in three languages.
- The spelling and the sound agree completely in all of them.
To consider
- No meaning can be given, because the Roman root has none that survives.
- It is common enough that a child may not be the only one nearby.
- The record holds girls as well, and the girl is much the smaller side.
Felix
Strengths
- Spelled identically in English, German, Dutch and Scandinavian use, and near-identically in Spanish, French and Portuguese — it travels without correction.
- No pronunciation guesswork: American readers say it right on sight.
- An unbroken written record from Roman antiquity through the medieval church to the present day.
To consider
- Felix the Cat has been in cartoons for a century, and in Britain and much of Europe Felix is also a well-known brand of cat food. Most children meet the name as a name first, but the cat is out there.
- The x-ending can collide with surnames that begin with s or z — say the full name aloud a few times before deciding.
- Short forms exist but none has really stuck; expect the full name to do most of the work, which suits some families and not others.
Documented properties of each name — how it spells, travels and shortens — not opinions about the child.
With your last name
Say both in full. The notes are facts about letters and sound — a rhyme, a shared initial, the monogram — not a verdict on either name.
Type a last name to hear Antonio and Felix in full.
Weighing the whole shortlist? Run the full comparison — up to eight names with your last name, initials, classroom projections and a printable report.
Decide together
Nobody names a baby alone
Still torn between Antonio and Felix?
Put both to the vote.
One link to your partner, your parents, your sister. Each of them gets the two names, a one-tap answer and room to say why — and every reply lands in one place.
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More than two in the running? Settle it with a bracket or run the full comparison with your last name.
More head-to-heads
Same measures, different pair. Sixty more are dealt daily in the arena.
Lists these names appear on
- Vowel names: soft starts from A to O
- The steadiest names in America
- Four-syllable names that carry
- Seven-letter names, ranked by real use
- all guides
Where Antonio and Felix each sit in the library — alternatives in the same style, ranked by the same records.
Antonio or Felix — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Antonio or Felix?
- Felix, in 2025: Felix ranked #175 with 2,064 babies; Antonio ranked #176 with 2,058 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Antonio or Felix?
- Felix. Over the last five years Antonio moved up 4 places; Felix moved up 50 places.
- Which is the older name, Antonio or Felix?
- The US record cannot say: both were already in use when it began in 1880.
- How many people are named Antonio and Felix?
- About 229,000 people named Antonio are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 60,500 people named Felix are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Antonios or Felixs in the classroom?
- Antonio will almost certainly be the only one in school. Felix will almost certainly be the only one in school.
US figures from the Social Security Administration, 1880–2025; international figures from national statistics agencies. Votes are battle voters on this site, not the birth record. Data & methodology
Keep playing
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