Head to head · Girls' names
Felicity vs Fiona
#473 vs #470 in 2025 · both stepping back from its peak
Fiona is a whisker ahead (#470 vs #473 in 2025) and both are stepping back from its peak. The records will not split these two — sound, story and your own last name will.
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, Fiona leads 4 measures of 6; Felicity leads 1.
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
- 1930s: Felicity #3559, Fiona — — Felicity higher
- 1940s: Felicity #4310, Fiona #3640 — Fiona higher
- 1950s: Felicity #4211, Fiona #4049 — Fiona higher
- 1960s: Felicity #3429, Fiona #1850 — Fiona higher
- 1970s: Felicity #2244, Fiona #1648 — Fiona higher
- 1980s: Felicity #2210, Fiona #1411 — Fiona higher
- 1990s: Felicity #1390, Fiona #764 — Fiona higher
- 2000s: Felicity #633, Fiona #362 — Fiona higher
- 2010s: Felicity #493, Fiona #223 — Fiona higher
- 2020s: Felicity #448, Fiona #371 — Fiona higher
Fiona stood higher in 9 of 10 decades; Fiona has held the lead since the 1940s.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Felicity | Fiona |
|---|---|---|
| 1930s | #3559 | — |
| 1940s | #4310 | #3640 |
| 1950s | #4211 | #4049 |
| 1960s | #3429 | #1850 |
| 1970s | #2244 | #1648 |
| 1980s | #2210 | #1411 |
| 1990s | #1390 | #764 |
| 2000s | #633 | #362 |
| 2010s | #493 | #223 |
| 2020s | #448 | #371 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
The names themselves
Meaning, roots, sound and the people who carried each
Where each name comes from
Felicity
Happiness, good fortune
From Latin felicitas, from felix — fortunate, fruitful, happy. The same root gives the name Felix.
Felix → Felicitas → Félicité → Felicity
How it traveled
Felicitas was a Roman personification of good fortune, honored with temples in the city and stamped on Roman coins. The word passed into Christian use as a name, carried by Felicitas, a martyr venerated at Rome from the early centuries of the church, and it spread through medieval Europe as Félicité in France and Felicita in Italy.
Fiona
fair, white
The root is the Gaelic fionn, 'fair' or 'white'. Fiona itself is a Latinate feminine built on that word rather than a name found in medieval Gaelic records — the meaning is agreed on, the coinage is comparatively recent.
fionn (Gaelic, 'fair') → Fionn → Fiona
How it traveled
Gaelic fionn, 'fair', is one of the old workhorse elements of Irish and Scottish naming, carried by Fionn mac Cumhaill of legend and by names like Fionnghuala. Fiona is the Latinate feminine grown from it, appearing in Scottish literary circles in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries; the writer William Sharp used Fiona Macleod as his pen name in the 1890s, which put it in front of a large reading public.
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
Felicity
fuh-LIS-uh-tee
Stress on the second syllable, exactly like the English noun felicity. Some speakers compress the ending to fuh-LIS-tee in quick speech.
- Flick — Long-established informal short form, chiefly British and Australian; rarely used as a name on its own.
- Fliss — Informal, also mostly British; occasionally spelled Flis or Flissy.
- Lissy — Informal, taken from the middle of the name; also spelled Lissie.
- Fee — Casual family short form, one syllable.
- Also Fifi.
Fiona
fee-OH-nuh
Three syllables with the stress in the middle. Almost never misread once seen written, and the spelling and the sound agree in every language that uses it.
- Fi — The standard short form in Britain, Ireland and Australia; informal, used by family and friends rather than on paperwork.
- Fifi — Affectionate and childhood-leaning; most Fionas outgrow it or never use it.
- Fee — A spelling of the same short form, occasionally written out in notes and messages.
One short form, two names
- Felicity and Fiona both shorten to Fifi.
- Felicity and Fiona both shorten to Fee.
Short forms as recorded on each name’s own page. This is here so it is a decision rather than a discovery.
Is it right for you
The differences that decide it, laid out by what you want
Choose by what you want
Choose Felicity if you want…
- a name with more sound in itFelicity runs 4 syllables, Fiona 3
- plenty of nickname options5 recorded short forms — Flick, Fliss and Lissy
Choose Fiona if you want…
- a name past its most crowded yearsFiona is stepping back from its peak
- a name with fewer syllablesFiona is 3 syllables to Felicity's 4
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
Felicity
Strengths
- Spelled the way the English dictionary word is spelled, so most people get it right the first time without being told.
- A documented line running from Roman Latin through medieval France to English, unbroken for centuries.
- Several established informal short forms — Flick, Fliss, Lissy, Fee — so there is room for a nickname without inventing one.
To consider
- Because it is also a common noun, it can be read as a word before it is read as a name — and the noun sounds a touch formal or literary in everyday American English.
- Felicia and Felice are separate names that sound close, so expect the occasional mishearing or correction over the phone.
- In the US the name's whole run is recent, which means nearly everyone carrying it is young — it reads as current rather than inherited.
Fiona
Strengths
- Spelled the way it sounds and already familiar to English speakers, so it rarely needs repeating or correcting.
- Travels unchanged into German, Dutch and Italian — the same spelling and roughly the same sound.
- Has a real, long-established short form in Fi, plus the option of using the full name at every age.
To consider
- Princess Fiona of the Shrek films is the reference many people reach for first, ogre transformation included. The jokes are mostly good-natured, but they exist.
- If Gaelic authenticity matters to your family, know that Fiona is a modern literary formation on a genuine Gaelic root — not a name borne in medieval Ireland or Scotland.
- It has been easing back from its high point rather than climbing, which means fewer namesakes in the same school year and a name that reads as established rather than new.
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 Felicity and Fiona 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 Felicity and Fiona?
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 that carry both names
Every list here names both Felicity and Fiona — the same style, ranked by the same records.
Felicity or Fiona — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Felicity or Fiona?
- Fiona, in 2025: Fiona ranked #470 with 654 babies; Felicity ranked #473 with 653 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Felicity or Fiona?
- Neither is rising. Over the last five years Felicity moved down 90 places; Fiona moved down 176 places.
- Which is the older name, Felicity or Fiona?
- Felicity entered the US charts in 1935; Fiona entered the US charts in 1942. On the American record, Felicity is the older name.
- How many people are named Felicity and Fiona?
- About 18,500 people named Felicity are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 33,500 people named Fiona are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Do Felicity and Fiona share a nickname?
- Yes — both shorten to Fifi and Fee, so in a house with both names the short form would not say which child is meant.
US figures from the Social Security Administration, 1880–2025. Votes are battle voters on this site, not the birth record. Data & methodology
Keep playing
Sixty more head-to-heads are dealt in the arena every day — or line up Felicity, Fiona and the rest of your shortlist with your last name in one printable report.
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