Head to head · Girls' names
Felicity vs Rylie
#473 vs #476 in 2025 · both stepping back from its peak
Felicity is a whisker ahead (#473 vs #476 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, Felicity leads 3 measures of 6; Rylie 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
- 1930s: Felicity #3559, Rylie — — Felicity higher
- 1940s: Felicity #4310, Rylie — — Felicity higher
- 1950s: Felicity #4211, Rylie — — Felicity higher
- 1960s: Felicity #3429, Rylie — — Felicity higher
- 1970s: Felicity #2244, Rylie — — Felicity higher
- 1980s: Felicity #2210, Rylie #7831 — Felicity higher
- 1990s: Felicity #1390, Rylie #2008 — Felicity higher
- 2000s: Felicity #633, Rylie #395 — Rylie higher
- 2010s: Felicity #493, Rylie #355 — Rylie higher
- 2020s: Felicity #448, Rylie #450 — Felicity higher
Felicity stood higher in 8 of 10 decades; Felicity took the 2020s.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Felicity | Rylie |
|---|---|---|
| 1930s | #3559 | — |
| 1940s | #4310 | — |
| 1950s | #4211 | — |
| 1960s | #3429 | — |
| 1970s | #2244 | — |
| 1980s | #2210 | #7831 |
| 1990s | #1390 | #2008 |
| 2000s | #633 | #395 |
| 2010s | #493 | #355 |
| 2020s | #448 | #450 |
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.
Rylie
"rye clearing" — or an Irish surname of uncertain root
Riley, which Rylie respells, has two separate sources. One is the Old English place name from ryge (rye) and leah (wood clearing or meadow), found in northern England. The other is the Irish surname Ó Raghallaigh, anglicized as Reilly and O'Reilly, whose original root is not settled. Both roads end at the same modern sound.
ryge leah (Old English: rye clearing) → Ryley / Riley (English place name) → Riley (surname) → Riley (given name) → Rylie
How it traveled
The English line begins with land: settlements named for a clearing where rye grew gave their name to the families who came from them, and Riley became a surname carried out of Lancashire and Yorkshire. The Irish line is entirely separate — Ó Raghallaigh, anglicized to Reilly and O'Reilly, one of the most widespread surnames in Ireland, brought to America in enormous numbers.
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.
Rylie
RY-lee
Stress on the first syllable. All the spellings — Rylie, Riley, Rylee, Ryleigh — are said the same way, so the sound needs no explaining even when the spelling does.
- Ry — The usual short form, informal, used at home and among friends.
- Rye — Same sound as Ry, spelled to match the grain in the name's English root; informal.
- Ryls — A casual peer-group nickname rather than anything a family would use on a form.
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, Rylie 2
- plenty of nickname options5 recorded short forms — Flick, Fliss and Lissy
Choose Rylie if you want…
- a name past its most crowded yearsRylie is stepping back from its peak
- a name with fewer syllablesRylie is 2 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.
Rylie
Strengths
- Reads correctly on sight for almost any English speaker: two syllables, no silent traps, stress where you expect it.
- Works as both a full name and its own short form, with Ry available when something shorter is wanted.
- Sits on two deep surname traditions at once, English and Irish, so it has a long record behind it even as a modern first name.
To consider
- This spelling will be questioned for life. Riley is the default, and Rylee and Ryleigh both have real followings, so expect to spell it out at doctors' offices, on coffee cups and in email signatures.
- Riley in all its spellings is given to boys and girls alike. The -ie ending leans toward girls in American records, but the spoken name carries no gender signal, which some parents want and others do not.
- As a first name rather than a surname, it belongs to recent generations, so there are few older namesakes to point to — the family history here is on the surname side.
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 Rylie 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 Rylie?
Put both to the vote.
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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
- Virtue names, from Grace to Justice
- Four-syllable names that carry
- Eight-letter names with presence
- Names that begin and end with the same letter
- all guides
Where Felicity and Rylie each sit in the library — alternatives in the same style, ranked by the same records.
Felicity or Rylie — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Felicity or Rylie?
- Felicity, in 2025: Felicity ranked #473 with 653 babies; Rylie ranked #476 with 644 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Felicity or Rylie?
- Neither is rising. Over the last five years Felicity moved down 90 places; Rylie moved down 123 places.
- Which is the older name, Felicity or Rylie?
- Felicity entered the US charts in 1935; Rylie entered the US charts in 1983. On the American record, Felicity is the older name.
- How many people are named Felicity and Rylie?
- About 18,500 people named Felicity are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 23,000 people named Rylie are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Felicitys or Rylies in the classroom?
- Felicity will almost certainly be the only one in school. Rylie will almost certainly be the only one in school.
US figures from the Social Security Administration, 1880–2025. Votes are battle voters on this site, not the birth record. Data & methodology
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