Felita
Feminine
Felita is short, warm and undocumented, and the family of names it belongs to is built on the Latin word for lucky. One descendant of that word is stiff and ceremonial in English and completely ordinary in French, which is a good illustration of what borrowing does.
How old is the name Felita?
Felita first appears in US birth records in 1954 — 71 years ago. The typical Felita alive today was born around 1967, making them about 58 years old. About 700 people named Felita are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Felita most popular?
Felita peaked in 1968, reaching #1575 nationally. See the whole 1968 chart.
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
Our story of Felita
Félicitations is what a French speaker says to somebody who has just got engaged, passed an exam or had a baby. It is the ordinary word, used daily, at any level of formality. English borrowed the same word and uses it almost nowhere: felicitations in English is a joke or a flourish, deployed by someone being deliberately grand, and the plain word is congratulations. This happens constantly with French borrowings. English already had a word for the everyday job, so the imported one got pushed upward into formality and stayed there, which is why English has so many pairs where the Latin-derived word is the fancy one and the older word is the useful one.
Meaningnot established
Not established
Felicia and Felicitas are the likely relatives and their sense is documented. Whether this name is one of them shortened, or a build on a free front with a Spanish ending, is not recorded.
Pronouncing Felita
feh-LEE-tuh
Three syllables with the weight in the middle. The ending is the Spanish diminutive and is said the Spanish way.
Nicknames for Felita
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
- 1954
- Most girls named
- 196853 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1575reached in 1968
- Change vs 1990
- 0.0%5 in 1993, from 5
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.
Felitas among us
people named Felita 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
Felita 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
- Lita comes off the back of it as a short form and is established in its own right.
- It works in English and Spanish-speaking households without adjustment.
- Three open syllables carry well and are easy to hear across a room.
- Felicia and Felita will be confused with each other by anybody catching the name once.
- No origin is documented, so the meaning question has a likely family and no settled answer.
- The diminutive ending reads as affectionate to Spanish speakers, which some adults find wearing.
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Felita
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Felitas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 700 people named Felita are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Felita in 2025?
- Felita is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Felita with classmates?
- Felita 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 Felita? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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