Head to head · Boys' names
Felix vs Jesus
#175 vs #173 in 2025
Jesus is a whisker ahead (#173 vs #175 in 2025), but the curves point different ways: Jesus is holding its place on the charts, Felix is back after a long quiet spell. On momentum, Felix has the edge.
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, Jesus leads 4 measures of 6; Felix 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
- 1880s: Felix #156, Jesus #521 — Felix higher
- 1890s: Felix #168, Jesus #575 — Felix higher
- 1900s: Felix #175, Jesus #324 — Felix higher
- 1910s: Felix #181, Jesus #306 — Felix higher
- 1920s: Felix #222, Jesus #209 — Jesus higher
- 1930s: Felix #265, Jesus #225 — Jesus higher
- 1940s: Felix #301, Jesus #238 — Jesus higher
- 1950s: Felix #303, Jesus #245 — Jesus higher
- 1960s: Felix #322, Jesus #224 — Jesus higher
- 1970s: Felix #327, Jesus #142 — Jesus higher
- 1980s: Felix #358, Jesus #107 — Jesus higher
- 1990s: Felix #378, Jesus #77 — Jesus higher
- 2000s: Felix #376, Jesus #73 — Jesus higher
- 2010s: Felix #273, Jesus #121 — Jesus higher
- 2020s: Felix #193, Jesus #169 — Jesus higher
Jesus stood higher in 11 of 15 decades; Jesus has held the lead since the 1920s.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Felix | Jesus |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | #156 | #521 |
| 1890s | #168 | #575 |
| 1900s | #175 | #324 |
| 1910s | #181 | #306 |
| 1920s | #222 | #209 |
| 1930s | #265 | #225 |
| 1940s | #301 | #238 |
| 1950s | #303 | #245 |
| 1960s | #322 | #224 |
| 1970s | #327 | #142 |
| 1980s | #358 | #107 |
| 1990s | #378 | #77 |
| 2000s | #376 | #73 |
| 2010s | #273 | #121 |
| 2020s | #193 | #169 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
Around the world
Felix
- Canada#29
- England & Wales#62
Jesus
Not charting outside the US.
National statistics offices, latest published year.
The names themselves
Meaning, roots, sound and the people who carried each
Where each name comes from
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.
Jesus
the Lord is salvation
From the Hebrew Yeshua, a shortened form of Yehoshua — the same name as Joshua. Greek wrote it Iesous because Greek had no sh sound and needed a masculine ending; Latin made Iesus; and the J is a very late arrival, since the letter did not exist as separate from I until the sixteenth century.
Yeshua → Iesous → Iesus → Jesús
How it traveled
The letter J was invented, in effect, by Renaissance printers who wanted to distinguish the consonant from the vowel, and it did not settle into English until the seventeenth century — which means every spelling of this name older than about four hundred years begins with an I. Spanish naming took the name up devotionally, often in compounds like José de Jesús or María de Jesús, and it became one of the standard men's names of Mexico and Central America.
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
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.
Jesus
heh-SOOS
Two syllables, stress at the back, with the j as a throat sound close to an English h and an accent on the u in Spanish spelling. English speakers say JEE-zus, which is the same name and a completely different word to the ear — and the source of a great deal of daily friction for people who carry it in the United States.
- Chuy — The standard Mexican short form; used constantly and affectionately, and it bears no visible relation to the full name, which surprises everyone outside Spanish.
- Chucho — Another Spanish familiar form of the same name; warm, informal, and regional.
- Jesse — An English name used as a substitute rather than a shortening; it is a separate biblical name entirely, but American families use it this way.
Who has carried each name
Felix
Felix Mendelssohn (b. 1809) — Composed the Wedding March
Felix Baumgartner (b. 1969) — Broke the sound barrier skydiving from the stratosphere
Jesus
No documented entry for Jesus yet.
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 Felix if you want…
- a name on the way upup 50 places on the charts in five years
- a name that charts abroad tooFelix is on the national lists of Canada and England & Wales
Choose Jesus if you want…
- a name holding steadyJesus is holding its place on the charts
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
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.
Jesus
Strengths
- It is entirely standard across the Spanish-speaking world and carries a real devotional weight there.
- Chuy is a warm and universally understood short form in Mexican families.
- The name is the same as Joshua, which is a genuinely surprising fact to be able to give.
To consider
- English speakers read it as the religious figure rather than as a name, and a man will correct that assumption regularly in the United States.
- The accent belongs on it in Spanish and will not survive an American form.
- Nearly every child given this spelling is a boy; the record's girls are very few.
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 Felix and Jesus 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 Felix and Jesus?
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 Felix and Jesus — the same style, ranked by the same records.
Felix or Jesus — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Felix or Jesus?
- Jesus, in 2025: Jesus ranked #173 with 2,078 babies; Felix ranked #175 with 2,064 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Felix or Jesus?
- Felix. Over the last five years Felix moved up 50 places; Jesus moved down 4 places.
- Which is the older name, Felix or Jesus?
- The US record cannot say: both were already in use when it began in 1880.
- How many people are named Felix and Jesus?
- About 60,500 people named Felix are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 217,000 people named Jesus are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Felixs or Jesuss in the classroom?
- Felix will almost certainly be the only one in school. Jesus 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
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