Felice
Feminine · “lucky”
Felice is given to both — 4,188 girls and 700 boys since 1880. See Felice as a boy nameSee other names given to both
Felice is the Italian Felix, and in Italy it belongs to men: the name of saints and of several popes. In America it arrived mostly along the other road, said in a French way and read as a woman's name. Both readings are still in the record, and both are correct.
How old is the name Felice?
Felice first appears in US birth records in 1897 — 128 years ago. The typical Felice alive today was born around 1959, making them about 66 years old. About 2,800 people named Felice are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Felice most popular?
Felice peaked in 1911, reaching #958 nationally. See the whole 1911 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From felix to Felice
The story of Felice
Latin Felix was a favorite of the early Church, with dozens of saints and several popes bearing it, and Italy kept the Latin form for men while building Felicia and Felicita for women. France divided the name differently, with Felix for men and Felice and Felicie for women, and it is the French line that most American Felices descend from. The two traditions ended up in the same country, spelling the name identically and disagreeing about whose it is. That is not a corruption on either side; it is two languages each making a reasonable decision about the same Latin word.
Meaning
lucky, blessed
From the Latin felix, a word Romans also used as an honorific added to a general's name after a victory. The sense has stayed remarkably stable for two thousand years.
How the name formed
- felix
- Felice
Related forms: Felix · Felicie · Felicia · Felizitas · Feliks
Pronouncing Felice
fuh-LEES
Two syllables in English, ending on a soft s. Italian gives it three, feh-LEE-cheh, and French says fay-LEES. A Felice picks one and spends a lifetime correcting the other two.
Nicknames for Felice
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1897
- Most girls named
- 195492 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #958reached in 1911
- Change vs 2018
- +16.7%7 in 2023, from 6
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Felice in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Felix in Latin — related form
- Felicie in French — related form
- Felicia in English — related form
- Felizitas in German — related form
- Feliks in Polish — spelling variant
Felices among us
people named Felice are estimated to be alive in the US today
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
Questions parents actually ask
Fashion outlook
Felice sits outside the current charts, and that is its own kind of answer: naming cycles can only date the names they carried up. A name this rare has no decade stamped on it — it cannot go out of fashion, because it was never in.
Based on 146 years of naming cycles. How we read them
The trade-off
- It is a real name in Italian, French and English, so it travels without needing translation.
- The meaning is settled, cheerful and short enough to explain to a child in one sentence.
- It is spelled exactly as Italy and France spell it, with no American respelling to account for.
- The spelling is recorded for boys and girls alike here, and in Italy it is a man's name, so a Felice may be assumed to be either.
- Three countries say it three ways and none of them is wrong; expect to give the pronunciation more than once.
- On the phone it is regularly heard as Felicia or Phyllis.
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What they receive
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Felice
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Felices are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 2,800 people named Felice are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Felice in 2025?
- Felice is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Felice with classmates?
- Felice will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More F names
The most-given names starting with F, all years combined.
Frances#318 · Florence#391 · Faith#254 · Felicia#5554 · Fannie#3342 · Faye#514 · Flora#607 · Freda#6546
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Felice? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Felice and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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